The Elementals
by HikariYugiYamiAtemu
Summary: There was a scientist who created a formula that turned humans into superheroes. One day, they couldn't control their powers, thus caused the city into chaos. They were forced to live in the forest and had to endure many hardships. Many years passed, everything stayed the same...until they met 4 teens that will change their lives forever. Yami/Yugi Joey/Seto Ryou/Bakura Malik/Marik
1. Newcomers

Hello, folks! How have you been lately? This is my _**second**_ fan-fiction that includes _**Yaoi pairings**_ so be nice and _**no**_ flamers please, but criticisms are welcomed! (As long as it helps me improve my writing skills especially vocabulary…) So without further delay, here's **_Chapter 1_** but first…

**Disclaimer**: I do _**not**_ own _**Yugioh**_, it belonged to a well-known cartoonist named _**Kazuki Takahashi**_! :D But I _**do**_ own my two lovely **OCs**, they are **Celine** and **Nicole** who appear in..I don't know which chapter but you'll see! XD

**Pairings**: Yugi x Yami/Atemu, Joey x Seto, Ryou x Bakura, Malik x Marik

**Warning**: This is a story that includes _**Yaoi pairings**_ so if you don't like it, _**don't**_ read it! You've been _**warned**_.

**Note**: I know you all have been reading this kind of story numerous times. However, my story is a _little_ different than the others but most importantly, _**enjoy**_ this story so sit back, and relax! :P

_**Keys**_:

"Talks"

_'Thoughts'_

**Chapter 1: Newcomers**

"_**Once**__, there was a great scientist who successfully created a formula that could turn normal human beings into superheroes with great, extraordinary powers beyond human's imagination. Each of these superheroes possessed one special element and there were four of them altogether: - __**Fire**__, __**Water**__, __**Air**__ and __**Earth**__. This group of superheroes was known as __**"The Elementals"**__."_

_"Several weeks later, they were out to town in order to aid the citizens who desperately needed help. Everything seemed to work well as planned until a disaster struck. Without warning, "The Elementals" lost control of their powers and soon, they turned the city into **chaos**."_

"_As the result, many lives of innocent residents were killed and the buildings were all corrupted into tiny pieces of concrete. It was believed that their elemental powers were __**so**__ strong that normal human beings like themselves were hardly able to control them."_

"_In the end, the Governor of the city had decided to impede the scientist from having any more experiments, thus the man had lost his job as a scientist. As for "The Elementals", they had no choice but to stay in a place called __**"The Abandoned Forest"**__ for the rest of their lives in order to protect the city from harm."_

"_Time passed by in the blink of an eye, everything has progressively restored back to normal, __**until now…**__" _

**-In the year of 2280-**

A flash of light shone through the horizon like a blade as dark clouds slowly turned into bright blue ones with a beautiful iridescent rainbow formed between them like a colorful magical bridge. It seemed that the rain stopped as soon as the sun rose up from the Valley, chasing away the darkness in a teasing tardy way.

A flock of birds chirped happily as they flew towards the ground to look for food. They were not the only ones as other animals including chipmunks, deers and rabbits had woken up as well, but that's not all.

If you look deep into the forest, you will find a small cottage made up of wood and hay for the roof spotted in the sunlight.

Raindrops were falling down onto the grassy surface, producing dripping sounds like music playing in the forest but that's not enough to wake the three young-looking teens who each having a nice deep slumber on their large wooden bed with old worn blankets covered them for warmth.

The sunrays flashed right through the little holes called windows, which was now shining onto the three sleeping boys.

At first nothing happened, until the smallest of the three stirred in his bed and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, before he opened them unwillingly without moving his body.

This teenage boy had unusual hairstyle – his extremely extravagant hair featured multiple layers including long blond crocked, pointy locks for his fringe, the rest featured a six large spikes colored black with magenta rimmed all along the edges. He also had long blond bangs that shaped like lightning bolts shooting up onto three tips of the spikes.

The said teen blinked twice before he sat up but found out that he couldn't move his legs. The ruby orbs in his narrow eyes stared at the weight on his legs.

It was a boy the same age as himself who had deep golden hair flowing down his shoulders while some shot up to the air and was shaped like a pineapple. He was the tallest and most muscular among the three with the skin darker than anyone else in this room.

The crimson-eyed teen then scanned the surroundings and finally spotted another teen with long spiky white hair as sharp as thorns that ran down his back. He was sleeping comfortably on the bed. His skin was the same as himself - pale beige-colored.

Without hesitation, the tri-colored haired adolescent called softly while shaking the boy's shoulders gently, wanting his heavy head to get off his legs.

"Hey, Marik. It's time to get up."

The said teen only groaned in response, then silence took place.

"Your head is on my leg, baka so get your lazy ass up now!"

Marik managed to stir and rolled onto his own bed, and within a few seconds, snored in his sleep.

The star-shaped haired boy sighed at seeing his friend's actions before he stood up and was about to walk towards the door when he saw a thin young man holding a basket of fruit standing outside the door with piercing cold blue eyes staring back at him.

He had short brown hair and was a few inches taller than Marik. He also wore a simple sleeveless black shirt with blue jeans wrapped around his long, slim legs and a leather belt around his waist. The other three adolescents were all wearing the same attire as him.

"Good morning, Seto." The ruby-eyed teen greeted.

"Good morning, Yami."

The man whose name was Seto placed the basket onto the table.

"I brought some fruits for breakfast."

"Thank you, you're up early."

Seto laughed sarcastically, causing the two sleeping boys to groan and stirred in their beds in unison.

"I always do, I'm not a lazy pig like you and those two who's having a hard time getting their lazy butt off their beds! Speaking of which…"

Seto turned to look at the duo and at that moment, his right hand instantly turned into water.

He formed two water balls in his hand and quickly as a flash, threw them onto the face of the two boys.

Having cold-water balls splashed onto them made the two teens both jerked their bodies forward as they quickly sat up with shock written on their wet faces.

Narrow lavender eyes met narrow chocolate-brown eyes and before either of them could react, they heard hysterical laughter ringing in their ears like bells.

The two swung round to face the other two boys, they both blinked twice before realization hit them in the head like a blow.

They glared daggers at the taller teen and shouted simultaneously.

"Darn you, Seto! Must you _always_ have to do that?!"

The brown-haired adolescent calmed down and shrugged in response.

"This is the only way to get your ass up without having to yell at you numerous times until my throat turns sore."

He walked towards the small wooden table and grabbed an apple from the basket.

"Anyways, Bakura, Marik, this is your breakfast for today."

The albino who was known as Bakura grunted in reply while wiping his face with his shirt, Marik was doing the same thing.

"Yami."

The ruby-eyed teen looked up.

"Yes?"

"You go hunt down the animals while I go catch the fish at the lake."

The said teen nodded in response.

"Sure."

"Bakura, Marik, you two go get some more fruits…"

"Yeah, yeah, like we always do!" Bakura snapped immediately.

It was annoying that Seto had to keep saying those same words over and over again _every_ single day.

Seto only manage to grunt before he walked outside the door, towards his destination while Yami followed suit with an apple in his hands.

The sun shone above the clouds, making the wet surface turned dry swiftly so this was a good thing because they could run without tripping or getting wet.

The sound of their footsteps echoed and soon, Seto and Yami parted their ways after saying their goodbyes.

Yami looked around him, obviously trying to find any movement that showed a sign of animals nearby.

Within a few minutes, a rustling sound was heard in his alerted ears and his crimson irises quickly shift to the direction where he saw bushes shook abruptly but then stopped in silence.

Without thinking, Yami's hand formed a magic fire ball and threw it towards the bushes which turned to ashes in a split second, revealing a white rabbit standing on a corner with fear in its blue eyes.

Before the little bunny could react, a fire rope furled around its furry body, preventing it from escaping into its burrow.

The rabbit squeaked in fright before the heat around it caused it to faint in the process.

"Got cha!"

Yami beamed triumphantly as he took the lifeless prey in his hands but just then, he heard another sound coming from the bushes far corner to his right.

He ran towards that direction with ease as the sound of the footsteps drawn closer to him.

Yami hid inside the bushes and peered out when he heard someone talking.

He then gasped in surprise at the sight shown in his eyes and without a second thought, his legs ran with full speed towards the cottage. The door burst opened to reveal…no one in the house.

"Oh right, they went out to look for food." He whispered to himself before he took off to another direction while turning his head from left to right, hoping that he could find his friends in time.

"I have to tell them quick before they cause any more trouble…"

He suddenly stopped in his tracks when he heard footsteps drawing close to him.

Yami looked around, desperately trying to find a place to hide before he spotted a large long tree trunk standing in a corner behind him.

Without a second thought, he climbed on that tree and sat on a branch closest to the ground in silence.

At the same time, the bushes rustled violently and before Yami could even blink, two delicate hands appeared to split the bushes into half, revealing a young teen with round amethyst eyes looking around the scenery with interest.

Yami had to cover his mouth from producing any more sounds when he saw the boy's face that clearly shone in the sunlight in full view.

_'He…he looks just like me!'_

_**To Be Continued…**_

The **end** of **Chapter 1**, everybody! I hope you enjoy the story so far, for now it's time for _you_ to do something for me and that is _**review**_! It makes me _**happy**_ when I get _**more**_ reviews so _please_ do so! Stay tune for **Chapter 2: Encounter**!

(_**P.S**_**:** Yes, as you all know, Yami is the _**fire**_ elemental and Seto is the _**water**_ elemental. So in the next chapter, you'll find out the other _**two**_!)


	2. Encounter

Wow! (Eyes bulged) This is the _**best**_ achievement I get so far! _**7 reviews, 9 story alerts, 3 story faves, 1 author alert and 1 author fave**_! Thank you so much, everyone! You guys make me the happiest person in the world! (Lol) I hope I can get a better achievement than this in the future, and also I hope I didn't disappoint you for this chapter because I write _**too long**_ so I may have made a little mistakes, forgive me! So, without further delay, let's enjoy **Chapter 2** but first…

**Important Note**: I travel to _**Cambodia**_ next week so I won't be able to update **Chapter 3** on that week. You have to wait for an update most probably in either _**25th or 26th December**_. Sorry for the inconvenience.

**Disclaimer**: See chapter 1

_**Keys**_:

"Talks"

_'Thoughts'_

**Chapter 2: Encounter**

_'That's odd. I thought I heard footsteps somewhere nearby…'_

The boy mused with confusion flashing in his innocent violet eyes.

This teenager had the same hairstyle and was an inch shorter than Yami. They both had the same colored skin. People would have mistaken them as twins.

However, the only difference between them was that Yami had narrow crimson orbs while the other had round purple irises. Besides that, the younger youth's hair did not have blond bangs that shot up to the tip of his spikes like Yami's did.

All in all, Yami had the serious, confident and matured kind of look whereas the younger teen had a cherubic, childlike version.

The teen wore a blue long-sleeved sweater with baggy black pants and a watch round his wrist. A leather belt hung round his small waist and blue sneakers stepped onto the grassy surface before they came to a stop.

_'Who would have thought that the forest can be so huge! Anyone could get lost if…wait, lost?'_

The amethyst-eyed adolescent glanced at the surroundings with his head swinging from left to right and that was when realization hit him in the brain like an alerted alarm.

_'Oh no, I'm lost! What should I do? What should I do? Where are the others when I need them?!'_

He was in such panic that he unconsciously ran around the woods in circles while mumbling the same words over and over again like a recording tape.

On the tree branch, Yami tilted his head with confusion written all over his face as he silently observed the teen's amusing actions.

_'What is he doing? He looks so anxious and all…'_

He snapped out of his thoughts when suddenly, the tree branch he was sitting on was shaking violently.

'_An earthquake? But the ground isn't moving.'_

The crimson-eyed youth grabbed the tree trunk for support and that was the moment he noticed a red woodpecker with long pointy beak pecking on the tree branch continuously with its midnight blue eyes staring at it in full concentration.

Yami wanted to grab the annoying bird but the woodpecker was much faster. It flew off and without hesitation, pecked Yami's hand with anger glowed in its blue orbs.

The adolescent yelped in pain but he was not going to give up just yet. So, he stared at the angry bird furiously before he spoke aloud.

"Hey you!"

The blue-eyed bird looked up.

"Yeah, you. I'm warning you to stop pecking and fly off to another tree. If you _don't_ do as I say, I'm going to kill you…"

The red bird did not moved as it waited for Yami to finish his sentence.

"_For sure_!" His firm, serious tone proved his point.

They ogled at each other with those glaring irate eyes but in the end?

The woodpecker refused to listen to his orders, it violently pecked on that tree branch again but with a faster speed and before the tree branch snapped into two, Yami quickly jumped off and effortlessly stepped onto the ground with a loud thud.

He watched the proud woodpecker flew off while in his thoughts, cursed himself for having such bad luck.

'_The next time I see that bird, I will __**surely**__ kill it!'_

"Are you alright?"

Yami swung round to face a teen with concern and amazement in his purple irises.

_'Crap! No chance to escape, all thanks to that stupid woodpecker!'_

"I'm fine, thanks for asking."

The boy stepped closer to Yami with a relieved expression.

"That's good. By the way, what are you doing here in the forest?"

'_I knew he would ask that question.'_ Yami thought with an inward sigh.

"I'm doing research…about nature."

"Really? That's great! I'm working on that same topic too, that's why I came here. Which college are you in? I don't remember seeing a student like you in _my_ college."

_'Brain, tell me which college I'm in before he gets suspicious, quick!'_

Yami cogitated anxiously while trying to remember the name of the college he enrolled to years ago before that 'incident' happened.

"I'm in Oxford Academy. Currently taking Bachelor Science."

"Oxford Academy?"

His pure amethyst eyes instantly grew wide.

"That college is really hard to enrol, the percentage of having chances to enter that college is only 8%. I'm not that lucky though, I'm in Newcastle University, currently taking A-Levels."

"Newcastle University is a great place to study as well."

"I agree, that place is one of the best colleges I've ever enrolled to, so how long have you been here? In the forest I mean…"

_'Darn! Brain, help!'_

"About a week, why don't I show you around so that you won't get lost next time?"

His younger look-alike's expression brightened up.

"Really? That's great! I appreciate it if you do."

"No problem. By the way, the name's Yami."

The two look-alikes blithely shook hands.

"Pleased to meet you, my name's Yugi."

**Meanwhile, before Yugi and Yami meet each other…**

A boy with honey brown eyes and messy short blond hair strolled around the lake with an astonished look on his beige-colored face.

He wore a simple white tee shirt with a blue rectangle attached on the middle and matching blue jeans with a brown belt round his tough waist.

His white sneakers progressively stepped onto the grassy surface before they abruptly stopped moving.

The young-looking adolescent stared at the lake as his face reflected on the surface.

"The lake here is a lot clearer than the lakes in the city."

He swiftly took off his shoes and immediately soaked both feet into the crystal clear water with a splash.

"Ahh, such a nice feeling…"

The boy observed his reflection intently before his smile turned into a cheery grin.

"Why am I born with such a handsome face?" His boastful voice echoed in all directions.

"Oh well, I can't help it having all those girls chasing after me…"

His speech was immediately cut off when suddenly; a new face appeared on the water surface between his legs, this caused the teen to shriek in fright.

"Arrggghhhh!"

He quickly moved a few steps away from the half-naked stranger who slowly rose up with cold blue eyes staring back at him in hatred.

After taking a few deep breaths, the blond-haired boy cried with an angry tone in his voice.

"Don't scare me like that!"

However, the blue-eyed adolescent did not react but just afloat in the lake with that same cold look shining in the sunlight.

"Hey, shouldn't you suppose to say sorry?"

"Why should I?"

That answer slightly startled the playboy but quickly returned with that furious look. Before he had the chance to speak, the brunet was nowhere in sight.

"Must have dive into the lake again."

The brown-eyed stripling walked closer to the lake and in that instant, the brunet popped out with a struggling fish in his hands.

"What are you doing?"

The blond-haired youth asked politely but he did not receive a reply from Seto who was busy catching fishes and paid no attention to him. However, luck was not on Seto's side as the boy continued to ask questions with that same calm tone.

"What are you doing here in the forest?"

No reply.

"Did you come here alone or with friends?"

No reply.

"How long have you been here?"

For the third time, no reply.

"Why aren't you answering my questions?"

This time, the brunet had _had_ enough.

"Why don't you shut…"

"What is your name?"

For some reason, that was the only question Seto can't ignore.

"Kaiba."

For the first time since they first met, the blond-haired youth smiled.

"I'm Joey."

Those were his last words before he heard someone calling out to him and when he turned back to Kaiba and wanted to say goodbye to him, the brunet was nowhere to be seen.

**Meanwhile, before Joey and Seto meet each other…**

A stripling with large chocolate-brown eyes and white smooth spiky hair was wondering around with an amazed expression all over his features.

_'What a beautiful forest!'_ The teen exclaimed.

_'I felt like I'm in a whole new world but a much better one compared to the city. This place is simply peaceful and harmonious. I rather live here than living in the town if I had a choice.'_

While he was busy glancing around the scenery, he did not notice a boy the same age as himself, was snooping behind a tree.

_'Hmm, never thought that I have a visitor who looks like a copy version of me.'_

Bakura wondered while eating a pear in his hands.

True, the boy's looks resemble Bakura, the only difference between them was that Bakura's eyes were narrower and his hair was a lot spikier than the teen whose face held angelic, innocent features like Yugi's.

The albino then looked at his look-alike's clothes.

He wore a neat tee shirt with patterns of blue and white stripes coiled around it and a matching baggy blue pants wrapped round his long, slim legs.

Dazzling silver bracelets glimmered proudly around his delicate arms with a silver locket round his neck.

His brown sneakers stepped onto the grass with a squeaky sound before they came to a halt where the young adolescent saw a large blurry shadow that seemed to form the shape of a house.

_'What's that? Looks like a house or some sort…'_

Bakura was surprised that the teen had found their cottage, his bulging eyes proved his point.

_'I have to stop him from getting closer to our house!'_

Just then, he noticed a small stone resting on the ground beside his feet and that was when he had an idea.

He held up his hand and at the same time, the stone rose up in midair. His index finger pointed at the youth's head and as quick as a flash; the stone flew towards that direction and instantly hit his target.

"Who goes there?"

The albino cried while rubbing his head in annoyance, but he did not see a sight of a human shadow looming around him.

"That's weird."

He swung his head round, wanting to focus on that strange house-shaped shadow once again but instead of seeing that figure, his eyes met with a pair of narrow brown eyes which strangely glowed in the dark forest.

As expected, the teen cried in fright as he moved away from the stranger who gazed back at him with an upside-down position, his legs hooked on a large tree branch with his arms folded in front of his well-built chest.

Before the shivering teen had a chance to speak, Bakura spoke with a deathly truculent tone in his monotone voice.

"What is your name, weakling?"

The boy stood on the spot with his hands clenched into fists for he was too afraid to speak to the stranger.

"Answer me!"

To his relief, the boy finally spoke with a quaver voice.

"R..R..Ryou."

In that instant, Bakura swung his legs forward and landed on the ground with ease. He stepped towards the poor fretful youth until their faces were an inch away from each other. You can now see that their heights were almost the same as well.

"Ryou huh? What a pretty name."

He spoke with a lustful purr as he stroked Ryou's pale cheek in a loving way.

"Wh…What is your name?"

"How dare you speak back to me without asking for my permission!"

Ryou's twinge of fear grew stronger after receiving that remark but he noticed Bakura's anger slowly palliated as he calmed himself before he spoke again, this time, in a much calmer tone.

"However, I will answer your question. I am Bakura so you better remember my name the next time we meet each other."

The said teen nodded obediently and just before Bakura had the chance to torment the boy, he heard his name being called from a far away distance.

He gave Ryou one last stroke before he let go and briskly ran towards the other direction with a speed of light without waiting for a reply.

Ryou just stood on the same spot silently, not knowing what to do or how to react because everything happened so suddenly.

However, his senses came back to him as soon as he heard his friend calling out his name so without a second thought, he too was running towards the same direction where Bakura had disappeared to a few seconds ago.

**Meanwhile, before Ryou and Bakura meet each other…**

Marik was picking some fruits in the East side of the forest.

When he was about to grab a juicy apple that hung on the tree branch beautifully, footsteps were heard in his alerted ears.

_'Someone's coming.'_

He quickly hid himself behind the bushes and sat there silently for a while before he saw black boots glinting in the sunlight near his hiding place.

He then looked up to see a pair of lavender eyes staring at the tree that stood in front of him.

_'Is that a clone of me?'_

Marik wondered curiously while watching the stripling's every movement.

The boy did not have hairs that shot up to the air like Marik's did, instead his silky golden hair flowed down his broad shoulders and his eyes were slightly larger than Marik's.

He wore a purple sleeveless sweater with golden bracelets shimmered gracefully round his well-built arms and neck.

A matching pair of diamond-shaped golden earrings hung on either side of his ears with long black leather pants wrapped tightly around his slim legs. A leather belt was also spotted round his thin waist.

_'Darn! Where are the others? I can't find them anywhere and it looks like I'm lost.'_

The boy thought with a disappointed sigh, both hands rested on his hips.

While Marik was thinking on how to escape from that teenager, an idea suddenly flowed through his brain.

_'Hmm, since I have time before lunch, why not have a little fun with this pretty boy.'_

He grinned at the thought so without hesitation, he put both hands on the tree that stood right next to him. His hands seemed to glow with green light surrounding his body and in less than two seconds, the veins in the tree started to grow.

At that moment, more tree branches sprouted from the tree trunk with spiky thorns all over it. Soon, it covered the boy's path.

Luckily, the teen was looking at the other direction so when he swung his head round, his eyes goggled with surprised expression written on his tan-colored face.

"That's strange; I have never seen tree branches that grow like this. Now, how should I cross the road with all those scary-looking thorns blocking my path?"

At the same time, Marik was smirking like a complete maniac.

_'Let's see how he crosses the path with his bare hands.'_

However, what he did not expected to see was instead of getting nervous, the youth grinned as he moved a few steps back and with a flash, charged towards the tree branches with an incredible human speed.

He avoided the obstacles with ease; he kicked the dangerous-looking thorns away with his tough feet and jumped all the way to the end. Finally, he reached the other side of the path effortlessly and examined himself for any cuts or bruises.

"Three cuts in total, looks like the martial art practice I've learned from school is improving."

In the bushes, Marik's jaw instantly dropped to the ground as he stared at the proud youth in disbelief.

"I've been through this training myself and my best record so far is five cuts in total!"

He then climbed onto the tree to the top and hid himself with leaves all around him.

"Let's try this trick."

The younger stripling walked around the woods peacefully and just then, a loud baritone voice boomed around him with a maniacal laughter followed by leaves rustling in the trees, like they were laughing at him too.

"How dare you enter my territory, human?"

His echoed voice startled the boy to no end.

"Wh…Who are you? Show yourself!"

The lavender-eyed boy glanced round the surroundings with a warning look as he desperately trying to find the owner of the voice.

"Before I answer your question, tell me your name."

The voice again boomed in all directions, sending chills down the teen's spine.

"Malik."

"Very well. If you must know, I am the well-known Phantom of the Forest, and I hereby warn you to get away from here as soon as possible before I decide to kill you."

At that moment, he heard a chirping sound in the background.

Malik then swung his head to see a sparrow sitting on top of a tree branch with what seemed like a strange thin green rope attached on the tree trunk. He slowly walked towards the rope and without a second thought, pulled as hard as he could.

Marik lost his balance as he dropped onto the ground with a loud thud; he was holding an empty tin can with the same green rope at one end.

Malik was obviously furious when he found out the truth so he instantly grabbed Marik's black shirt and pulled him close so that they were face to face to each other.

"How dare you play pranks on me?!"

Malik glared daggers at Marik who was grinning nervously while letting sweats dripping down his cheeks like raindrops.

In that instant, Malik heard someone calling out to him so he let his look-alike go roughly and ran towards the other direction but not before he gave Marik one last glare and spoke in a dangerous angry tone.

"The next time we meet, I am going to kill you. I swear!"

And then, he was gone, leaving a spaced out Marik on the ground.

Meanwhile, Yami had told Yugi everything about the forest, It was divided into four parts: **North** **Wing** which was where the entrance of the forest was located, the **East** **Wing** and **West** **Wing** which were nothing but trees all around them and finally, the **South** **Wing** where the lake was located.

Their cottage was on the **West Wing** but Yami didn't tell him that, of course.

Yugi smiled in delight and said,

"Thank you, Yami for showing me the way."

Yami couldn't help but smiled as well.

"No problem, it was the least I can do to help you."

Yami's smile made Yugi blushed; fortunately Yami did not notice that.

"By the way, are you the only one here in the forest?"

"No, actually I have three cousins with me, how about I call them out and introduce you to them?"

"Sounds great, I have three friends with me as well, I call them out too."

And so, the duo called their comrades as loud as they could and within 5 minutes, everyone reached the entrance of the forest.

"There you are, Yugi! I thought I've lost you pal. This place is huge you know!"

Joey exclaimed with his arms stretched out wide, causing the two look-alikes to laugh.

"You're right. I'm sorry for causing you trouble, Joey."

"Nah, it's no problem. At least you're safe and sound."

He then swung his head round and his eyes instantly met with surprising cold blue ones.

Yami's cousins stared at their three 'new' friends in disbelief before they pointed at each other in a comical way and shouted respectively.

"It was you?!"

Yugi and Yami was both dumbfounded, they did not expect this to happen. In the end, the tri-colored haired twins blinked twice in unison and simply said,

"You guys know each other?"

**_To Be Continued…_**

The end of **Chapter 2** has arrived! Thank you to all readers who read my story! Now, it is time for you to _**review**_ and if you have any questions, just ask and I'll be happy to answer them. As you all know, Bakura is the **Air** Elemental and Marik the **Earth** Elemental. So, stay tune for **Chapter 3: Introduction!**


	3. Introduction

Hello, folks! Miss me? :D The weather in **Cambodia** is almost the same as my country – _HOT_! The foods, the transportation, the busy roads, the people…well, they're not too bad, and not too good either. The only thing that is good in Cambodia is the scenery and the sad tragic history about wars between Khmer Rouge and the Cambodians. Oh, and not to mention, one of the _**7 wonders of the world**_, _**Angkor Wat**_! Yeah, I have fun there don't worry. Now, enough babbling from me and on to the story! But before that...

I wish you all **_Merry Christmas and Happy New Year_**!

**Disclaimer**: See Chapter 1

_**Keys**_:

"Talks"

_'Thoughts'_

**Chapter 3: Introduction**

The sunlight's radiation grew stronger as the time passed minute by minute. A gust of wind caused the swaying trees to rustle, producing unique beautiful melodies in the wide peaceful forest.

The sunrays then spotted an old long tree branch, revealing two brown feathery sparrows chirping and singing happily to each other. However, their little 'chat' was shortly cut off when they heard laughter behind their hiding place.

Without hesitation, the lovely couple flew to that direction and soon, eight figures appeared talking joyfully in the woods. The sparrows stood on a tree branch comfortably, their watchful eyes were now laid on a greedy boy who was hungrily devouring a hamburger in one hand. What he didn't realize was that two star-shaped tricolor haired teens were watching him, amused.

"Is he always behaving like this when it comes to food?" The older teen, Yami asked while holding a soda can in one hand.

"Unfortunately, yes." The younger look-alike, Yugi answered shamefully.

"I apologize for Joey's rude behavior…"

"Ah, not at all. I've got used to it actually."

"Huh?"

Yami chuckled when he saw Yugi's confused yet innocent look that displayed on his cherubic face.

"Because one of my cousins, Marik behaves like that too."

To show that his fact was true, the red-eyed youth pointed towards the direction where they spotted Marik who was busily grabbing all the delicious food he could find on the table while at the same time, laughed maniacally before saying,

"Mine, all mine!"

Just then, he noticed a mouth-watering chicken drumstick resting neatly on a large white plate.

Marik's eyes sparkled in delight as he hastily grabbed the chicken but what he failed to notice was at the same time; Joey grabbed the bottom part of it.

Two glutton eaters stared at each other with similar warning look, each wondering what their opponent would do next.

As a result, they fought with each other while grabbing their precious drumstick in both hands, each pulling with all their efforts.

"Mine!" Joey shouted while trying to get his 'property' back.

"Mine!" Marik barked as he pulled the chicken aggressively but Joey managed to pull back.

"Mine!"

"Mine!"

"Mine!"

"Mine!"

They were both applying the same amount of pulling force, thus caused them to lose their grip on the food and fall into the dirty bushes in unison.

In the end, many hungry ants scurried off to do their work – picking up their 'treasure' and went back to their humble little 'home' to celebrate their victory on getting their prize.

"It's all your fault!" Joey pointed accusingly at the older teen who busily brushing off the dirt from his shirt.

"Me?! _You're_ the one who's responsible for this!" Marik shot back angrily.

"If you'd given me that chicken, none of this would've happened!"

This time, Joey had reached his dangerous state – _argue_ time.

"If _you're_ the one who'd have given me that chicken, this would never have happened!"

"It's your fault!"

"No, it's _your_ fault!"

The stubborn duo ended up fighting with their fists throwing in all directions as they rolled and rolled into the other side of the forest. Then, they were gone and silence took place.

"They'll definitely be great friends." Yami said with a grin.

"I sure hope so." Yugi smiled blithely before they went back to their picnic spot.

As the time passed by, everyone had settled down while spending the rest of the day on this great enjoyable picnic.

Yami stood on a corner and rested his head on a tree trunk. He was watching Yugi chatting cheerily with his friends and that reminded him of the conversation he had earlier with his cousins and the 'newcomers'.

They had each introduced themselves before they decided to have a picnic as their welcoming party.

His ruby orbs were now laid on a boy who appeared to be the Marik's look-alike.

'_Malik Ishtar.'_ Yami thought silently to himself.

Malik was known as the sporty type of guy because he entered all kinds of sport competitions in the same school Yugi had enrolled to – The Newcastle University.

His efforts had rewarded himself a cabinet full of sport trophies and his best achievement was being the Master of the Martial Arts club. All in all, he was tough but had a very bad temper.

Yami's gaze then switched to the white spiky haired youth.

'_That's Ryou Bakura if I'm not mistaken; his last name is coincidently the same as Bakura's first name.'_

Ryou, the brainy one of the group, was a straight A student of all time and thus received a full scholarship for his A-Level course. Overall, he was just a kind, polite, hardworking and shy big-brain albino.

'_Now, the other one…'_

Yami caught a glimpse of a honey-brown eyed stripling running to the bushes with a sandwich in one hand, followed by a crazy Marik who was chasing him with that slimy saliva dripping down his mouth.

_'That's Joey, right?'_

Joey Wheeler. From Yami's point of view, was a greedy, clumsy and talkative young teen that kept thinking about food.

According to his friend's information, Joey was a troublemaker who paid less attention to his class, thus attended detention almost everyday, not that he minded anyway.

His only good quality was that he was willing to protect his friends and lend a helping hand if he wants to. Whenever his friends felt upset about something, he could always find a way to cheer them up.

In conclusion, he had a good quality of being a friend, but a bad quality of being a student.

'_Last but not least…Yugi Mutou.'_

Yami's heart skipped a beat every time when Yugi appeared in Yami's mind, and he couldn't find the reason why.

'_Mutou…wonder why this name feels so familiar to me.'_

Yugi, the considerate happy-go-lucky adolescent, was just an ordinary 18-year old college student who wished to become a scientist one day.

His child-like appearance would made people thought he was a teen who's incapable of doing almost anything but if you know him better, he was actually an independent, responsible and understandable guy whom you're lucky to have him as a friend, especially his heartwarming smile that could be a cure for the coldest heart.

Yami and his three cousins only reveal their names, ages, school's name, their study courses and their hometown as their personal details. Nothing more, nothing less.

"Yami?"

The ruby-eyed youth snapped out from his thoughts when he heard Kaiba's stern voice.

"What is it?"

"We should go now."

The said teen nodded in understanding before straightening himself.

This was the time they went back to their cottage but before that, the four 'elementals' said their goodbye speeches to their 'new' friends who began to set up their own tent.

**-Straight forward to the cottage-**

"So…" Kaiba stared at his cousins with his calm yet serious expression.

They gathered around the small wooden table as their usual meeting place but this time, the meeting was very important.

"First off, I want to know whether you three had revealed your true _'identity'_ to those visitors or not, Yami."

Kaiba's blue eyes then set on the spiky haired teen.

"Did you use your powers on them?"

"No." Yami's firm tone proved his point.

The brunet then swung his head to the albino and the Egyptian. At this moment, Yami noticed his cousin's eye color slowly changed to pure ocean blue.

"Bakura, Marik. Did you…"

"No!"

Their answers were soon rewarded themselves each a hammer-like punch on the head from Kaiba.

"Oww, what's that for?" Bakura whined annoyingly while gently rubbing his head.

"Do you think that look of yours can fool me? Now, spit it out. Why on earth did you use your powers even though you know it's forbidden?"

Bakura had no choice but to reveal his true reason of using his powers on Ryou.

"I'm sure Ryou didn't know anything about your powers judging from the way you did it, so I forgive you but only _once_!" The brunet said with a grunt.

"And now it's your turn."

Kaiba grabbed Marik's shirt collar with ease before he had a chance to escape to the door. The lavender-eyed stripling silently cursed himself for getting caught. Finally, he gave up as he obediently told everyone the truth.

Obviously, you know what happened next.

"Marik!"

**-Meanwhile, in Yugi's tent-**

The foursome were discussing about their project for the summer holiday.

"Argh! This stinks!" exclaimed a very frustrated Joey.

"Stop complaining, Joey. We're supposed to finish this project within two weeks and if you keep whining like that, we'll never get this work done!" Malik said while rolling his eyes in annoyance.

"Alright, guys. Listen up." Yugi announced before placing his book down onto his lap.

"I suggest we should each work on a section so it'll make things easier and faster for us. Joey, you do Section A."

The shortest teen of the group pointed the page to his friend who nodded in understanding.

"Ryou, you do Section B."

The albino nodded as well.

"Malik, you do Section C."

Malik stared at the pages with interest before grinning.

"Hmm, germination huh? I like it!"

"I do Section D. So, any questions?"

Yugi swung his head from left to right and saw Joey rising up his hand.

"Yes, Joey?"

"I was wondering why we can't work on it like what other students did? You know, using textbooks and Internet instead of coming _here_? Wouldn't that saves us time?"

"True. It does save us time but investigating and finding answers ourselves are a better learning method. Also, you know that's not the only reason why we came here, right?"

Joey had nothing to say so he just nodded.

Everyone in the city had wanted to explore the 'outside' world and that included "The Abandoned Forest".

The only thing that prevented them from doing it was because of an invisible barrier the Governor had created in order to protect the city from harm. That barrier was activated ever since that 'incident' happened so it only access for authorized personnel.

If you are wondering how Yugi and the others managed to escape from the barrier, they found a way to enter a truck that was supposed to export the supplies to their neighboring country.

When the truck passed through "The Abandoned Forest", they jumped off the truck and entered the forest sneakily without being seen until Yami and his cousins found them.

So now, they just hope that their parents won't find out the truth before they returned to the city. Naughty boys, aren't they?

"So…" Joey closed his heavy book and smiled evilly at his tricolor spiky haired buddy.

"What do you think of your look-alike, Yami Katsuo?"

Yugi blushed when the image of Yami invaded his mind, but quickly brushed it off and simply said,

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean. Now, tell me. I want to hear every detail of it."

Yugi scratched his head in a shy way but answered nonetheless.

"Well, he's kind, polite and gentle. He's simply a nice person to talk to."

"Do you like him?"

That question made Yugi realized what Joey truly meant.

"Yes, I like him." He said before narrowing his eyes.

"But only as a _friend_."

"Oh really?" Joey said before he took a sip from his soda but he failed to notice an evil smirk displayed on Yugi's delicate face.

"So, Joey." Yugi said in an innocent tone.

"What do you think of Seto Kaiba?"

Joey nearly spat out the soda but managed to calm down after that.

"What?"

"You heard me." Yugi crossed his arms and pouted cutely, hoping that expression would convince his friend to tell him the truth.

Joey wanted to protest, but then decided to answer his questions anyway.

"All I know is that he's rude, serious and so _not_ a nice guy to talk to, you should stay away from him, Yugi."

'_Thinking about him makes me sick!'_ Joey thought to himself.

"Really? He looks like a good person to me. He's probably just being…well, you know, shy."

"Shy?!" Joey's eyeballs looked like they were going to pop out from its sockets.

"Oh no, you get it all wrong, pal. I know what I think is right, trust me."

Yugi was confused at his friend's remark but shrugged before replying,

"If you say so."

Then, his amethyst irises fell onto the albino.

"Now's your turn, Ryou!"

Ryou was hesitant at first, but sighed regretfully.

"To me, Bakura Akira is a very mysterious person."

'_And dangerous.'_ He added in thought.

Joey nodded in agreement. "He looks like one, is he related to you, Ryou? Because his first name is the same as your last name, plus you both look alike."

Ryou shook his head immediately at hearing that remark.

"Oh well. Now, Malik. What do you…Malik?"

The three adolescents searched for his mauve-eyed friend and found him standing at the entrance of Yugi's tent.

"You're asking me about that guy, Marik Ryouta?" An evil glint of hatred flashed in his eyes.

"I just want to kill him."

Then, he was gone, leaving the confused threesome to their devices.

_**To Be Continued…**_

The **end** of Chapter 3!

Sorry if you think this chapter is too short but still, I hope you enjoy the story so far and a big thanks to readers who either faves my story or add my story to alert list.

If you wonder why Malik hates Marik _**so much**_, You have to wait for the **next chapter**!

So, stay tune for **Chapter 4: Friend!**

Lastly, _**Review**_ please!


	4. Friend

_**Happy New Year 2009**_! (throws confetti) The year was gone but it has made us strong. The path was long but we walked it with a song. There were fears and tears but we also had reasons for cheers. Wishing you & your family Happy Memories of _**2008**_ and have a great _**2009**_ ahead.

So, without further delay, here's **Chapter 4**!

**Disclaimer**: See Chapter 1

**Beta**: **_Sumire Mayonaka_**

_**Keys**_:

"Talks"

_'Thoughts'_

**Chapter 4: Friend**

**-The next day-**

The sun arose out of the Valley as usual, telling the people that it was the beginning of a new day. Flowers bloomed beautifully as their fragrant smell attracted a swarm of hungry bees to drink their delicious sweet nectars.

One of the bees flew towards the violet _morning glory_ and was about to take a sip of those tasty-looking nectar when suddenly, a loud rustling sound stopped its movement.

Before the bee could react, a big black leathery boot stepped onto the _morning glory_ as if it was dirt. The depressed little insect stared at the ruined lifeless plant in despair and flew away, but not before it gave one last look at the man with narrow mauve eyes and smooth golden hair.

'_What a boring day.'_ Thought a lacklustre, browned off Malik.

He was plodding around the woods in the East Side of the forest while letting a yawn escaped from his lips.

Apparently, Malik did not have a very nice slumber because of a person that kept bothering him all night – Marik.

Ever since he met that guy, his life started to turn upside down. Whenever Marik appeared in front of him or somewhere nearby, something bad will happen to him.

For example, the picnic they had yesterday.

Malik was getting a soda can when out of nowhere; Marik appeared behind the bushes and accidentally pushed him towards the table. In the end, his body was covered with food and everyone laughed hysterically except Marik who was grinning nervously with apologetic expression written on his sweaty face.

Then, at night before Malik went to Yugi's tent.

The lavender-eyed teen was going to the lake for a walk and knelt down to have a look of his reflection. At that moment, Marik appeared out of nowhere and accidentally pushed him into the lake. As a result, his whole body was soaked with water but luckily; he did not catch a cold.

"The next time I meet him, I am going to kick his butt and…"

His footsteps stopped abruptly as soon as he saw the guy he was looking for was sitting on a tree branch while swinging his legs in a playful enjoyable way.

"There he is." Malik's smile slowly turned into a sinister grin. Without a second thought, he tardily walked towards the tree branch and spoke in the nicest manner possible.

"Oh Marik. I've been searching all over for you!"

His innocent yet perilous tone caused a waning, chicken out Marik to shriek in fright and tumbled onto the ground with a loud thud.

"Ow!" The older teen cried while rubbing his back but his expression swiftly changed into horror when black boots standing a few inches away from him.

"Aww…What's wrong, Marik? Don't you miss me?" Malik's grin widened when Marik's startled eyes gazed into Malik's devilish glare.

"Erm, hi Malik. What a pleasant surprise."

The cracking knuckles sound sent chills down Marik's spine.

"Indeed, and now it's pay back time."

Before Marik could say anything, the younger adolescent's hand turned into fists and was about to throw a punch down Marik's chest. However, a larger hand grabbed his wrist, caused him to stop his fight.

"Take it easy, Malik. Maybe we can just sit down and…"

His speech was cut short when his look-alike's left leg swung into action but Marik managed to dodge the attack as he jumped and sat on a tree branch effortlessly.

"I have no intentions to speak to an idiot like you!"

As soon as he ended his talk, Malik jumped onto the tree branch and was preparing to kick Marik's stomach but what he didn't expected was that Marik put his index finger on Malik's forehead and said the stupidest thing he had ever heard since childhood days,

"Tag. You're it!" was all Marik said before the older stripling jumped from one tree to another, at the same time he stuck out his tongue towards his look-alike.

"I can't believe him." Malik stood on the tree with a shocked expression.

"An 18 year-old teen acts like a 5 year-old brat?"

Marik stood on a tree a meter away from him and waved in a playful way.

"Alright then. You wanna play tag? I'll play."

In that instant, Malik jumped and began to chase Marik from tree to tree.

'_And when I get you, I'm going to make you beg for mercy.'_ The lavender-eyed adolescent smirked in thought.

**-Meanwhile-**

Ryou was preparing lunch for his friends while singing and dancing in exhilaration with a white plate in his hands. He was currently in his house-like tent with living room, bathroom, bedroom and also kitchen in it.

Just when he was about to walk towards the large round wooden-like table, his eyes immediately met with similar but narrower dark brown ones.

"Ah!" Ryou cried as the plate began to fell from his hands but the older teen managed to grab it just in time before it hit the ground.

"Don't scare me like that!" The younger adolescent retorted but his angry expression changed as quickly as a flash when he realized whom he was speaking to.

"Oh, it's you Bakura." Ryou said shyly as he took the plate from his look-alike and looked away.

"But please, don't do that ever again. You nearly gave me a heart attack."

The two identical albinos went into the kitchen silently; the sweet aroma went straight into Bakura's nostrils.

"You cook?" Bakura questioned and raised an eyebrow. The youth smiled at that remark.

"Yes and I really enjoy it."

Bakura then gave him an odd look.

"You _enjoy_ it?"

"Yes, is something wrong?"

"I thought cooking is supposed to be ladies job. I've never seen any boy who likes cooking so much."

The younger 'twin' chuckled after hearing that comment.

"I'm not born in a rich family, so I don't have maids in my house." He explained calmly while at the same time, placing his all time favorite chicken pasta with mushroom and black pepper sauce on the plate.

"My mom goes to work everyday from morning at 8 until 6 evening so I have to do all the housework. She taught me how to cook when I was seven and from that moment, my likeness towards cooking and baking began to grow even now."

He noticed Bakura nodded in response while staring at the comestibles he had prepared on the table.

'_He's not such a bad person after all.'_ Ryou thought with a smile graced on his lips.

"What's in the oven?" Bakura asked curiously.

"Oh, it's the chocolate muffins. Could you take the tray out for me when it's done?"

The sound of the chiming bell echoed around the kitchen, telling them that the muffins were ready to be served.

"Ok." The white spiky-haired youth replied and obediently did what he requested.

"Thank you!" Ryou's smile widened and thought about what Bakura's cousins had told him yesterday.

'_They said he is a greedy, evil, heartless and selfish little 'thief' but I don't see him that way.'_

But when he swung round and looked at his tray, he regretted what he thought earlier.

As soon as Bakura reached the entrance of the tent, a shout rang in his ears like a thunder.

"Bakura! Come back here!"

The older stripling grinned in thought and without waiting, scampered hurriedly with two mouth-watering muffins in his hands.

**-Meanwhile-**

A boy with honey-brown eyes was wondering around the woods, searching for a place to relax. A few minutes later, he found a huge ancient tree standing closest to the lake.

"Ah, My favorite spot!" Joey grinned and without hesitation, sat under the tree and took a deep breath.

"I really love this place." He spoke aloud dreamily but just then, he realized his purpose of coming here was to finish his school project.

"Oh yeah. I have to work on it now or else I'll get a heavy punch from Malik." He said and shuddered in thought.

However, when he opened his notebook, his headache started to 'activate' by itself especially when he looked at the first question he had to solve on his own.

"Transpiration…what is transpiration?" Those three simple words were enough to cause Joey a huge breakdown.

"Argh! Come on, brain." He pleaded to himself while grasping his hair in frustration.

"Transpiration is the process of water being taken into and evaporating from plants."

A stern but familiar voice caused Joey to snap out from his thoughts and swung his head round to face the brunet with the same piercing blue eyes staring back at him.

"I can't believe you couldn't answer that simple question, that makes me wonder how you got to enrol in a good University like Newcastle."

Kaiba moved a few steps closer to Joey until their faces were an inch apart from each other.

"Must have done some dirty tricks."

His remark caused Joey to scowl angrily; the blond-haired teen stood up and looked at the taller youth as if he was just a small evil bug.

"No, that's not true! I didn't do any dirty tricks like you've said. It's just that I have gotten lazy for the past few days so I forgot some of important facts that I've learned during class."

"Yeah, right." The blue-eyed adolescent spoke ambiguously.

Before Joey had the chance to speak, Kaiba walked away and went straight into the woods.

"Hey, wait! I'm not finished with you yet!" Joey exclaimed but the brunet ignored him.

"Stupid cold blooded brunet." He grumbled dolefully before he took his notebook and went to catch up with Kaiba.

**-Meanwhile-**

A teen with the purest amethyst eyes was looking at a plant with interest while scribbling something in his midnight-blue notebook but a few minutes later, his hand stopped abruptly when he heard a sound behind him.

'_Someone's there.'_ Yugi thought cautiously as his alerted ears picked up more noise but this time, he could hear someone's footsteps drawing close to him.

Without thinking, Yugi changed his pen into a laser and when the bushes behind him started to rustle violently, he swung round and prepared to point his laser at his opponent but as the sunlight shone on the lone figure, he was confounded to see the person he was staring at was none other than his identical look-alike.

"Sorry." Yami said apologetically but when his eyes set on the object Yugi was holding, he unconsciously raised an eyebrow.

"What's that thing you're holding?"

Yugi looked at his pen-like laser for a moment before he quickly hid it into his pocket while at the same time, gazing at him with that usual shy look.

"It's a pen that can be used as a laser, I thought you're an animal so I use it for protection but luckily, I didn't shoot you." He whispered softly and looked away.

'_Oh no, I must've scared him and now he probably hates me.'_ Yugi thought sadly to himself.

'_A pen-like laser?'_ Yami cogitated while putting his hand up to his chin.

_'I've never seen something like it when I was in the city. The science and technology must have improved a lot since our departure. I wonder how the city looks like now.'_

"It was nothing really." The ruby-eyed youth said with a smile as his hand placed on Yugi's shoulder in a gentle way.

Yugi looked up and saw Yami smiling charmingly at him and that made him smiled as well.

"That's a relief." He said with a sigh and opened his notebook to continue his work.

"What are you doing by the way?" He asked chivalrously while watching Yugi squatted with his pen scribbling on a paper like it was dancing on a white stage.

"Working on my school project for the summer holiday."

As soon as he finished his speech, a grumbling sound was heard in their ears and Yugi blushed when he realized where the sound came from.

"You must be hungry by now." Yami said with a chuckle.

"You stay here while I go get some fruit for us."

The younger teen gave him a bright smile.

"Thank you, Yami."

"No problem."

Then, he was gone in a flash, leaving Yugi alone in the woods.

While Yami was busy searching for fruits in the West Wing, a small figure with piercing blue orbs stared at him behind the trees before it disappeared in sight.

The tricolor-haired teen was picking a fresh red apple from the tree while humming joyfully in the forest and just when he was about to walk back to look for Yugi, a loud noise caught his attention.

"What's that sound?" Yami said curiously, his red orbs shifted from left to right repeatedly.

He then finally saw a familiar red bird pecking the tree above him but stopped when it realized someone was watching it intently.

"It's that woodpecker from before!" Yami's expression changed into anger as he dropped his fruit onto the ground, careful not to cause any damage to them.

After that, he jumped onto the tree branch the bird was sitting on; each ogled at each other with similar emotions displayed on their features – hatred.

"Now it's time for revenge." He smirked as he formed a blazing fire ball and threw it towards the woodpecker but what he didn't expected was that the bird moved the red fiery object with just a swing from it's wings, thus causing the fire ball to fly to the other direction and instantly hit on the smaller tree.

"What the…" Yami stared at the tree in disbelief, there was no way a small woodpecker could avoid the attack with just a simple swing.

"If that's the case, try to avoid this!"

He then summoned four similar fireballs in his hands and threw them in different directions, surrounding the red feathery prey but the animal was much faster. It flew up towards the top of the tree just in time before the four fireballs collided and disappeared after the explosion occurred.

Yami shielded himself from the explosion and looked up to see the woodpecker gazing back at him while flapping its wings continuously.

"So you're not an ordinary bird after all, but I'm not going to give up just yet." Yami promised himself as his hands slowly formed into a fire bow and a sharp fire arrow.

Just as he was going to point the arrow at his target, the bird was nowhere near the tree.

"Where did it go?"

His question was soon answered when the woodpecker sat on his head and began to peck him with all its strength.

"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!" The red-eyed youth screamed in pain as he desperately trying to get rid of the bird but to no avail.

The fire weapons disappeared into smoke as soon as he dropped them onto the ground.

After what seemed like 20 seconds of fights and shouts, Yami took a deep breath and used all his energy to speak this one word.

"Stop!"

His voice echoed around the forest in all directions, therefore chasing away all the animals and birds that came close to them except the woodpecker that sat on Yami's head and had now stopped its action completely.

Yami sat on a huge boulder with a tired stressed expression displayed on his handsome face.

"Alright, you win. Now what do you want from me?!" He snapped angrily as the bird settled on his shoulder.

Yami's expression instantly switched into surprise when the bird he was fighting against with was nuzzling his neck in a gentle loving way.

"What?" He stared in shock at the sight shown in his ruby iris.

"You are trying to be friends with me all this time?"

The animal nodded in reply and that caused Yami to feel guilty.

"I'm sorry. I thought you are trying to attack me but it seems that I get the wrong idea."

Yami stroked its feather in the gentlest way possible and smiled when the woodpecker leaned closer to the touch.

"Okay then. We can be friends from now on. Deal?"

The bird nodded eagerly with happiness glimmered in its orbs.

"Now that we're friends, I guess I have to give you a name. Calling you woodpecker sounds funny to me."

The blue-eyed woodpecker nodded once again.

"Let's see…which name suits you best?"

He took the bird in his hands and carefully examined it.

"You're a female so I have to give you a female name."

His crimson feathery comrade flew above him in circles, its beautiful attractive body shone in the sunrays.

"Her feathers look like fire when the sunlight shines on them…fire, that's it!"

Yami stood up and called his new 'friend'.

"From now on, you will be named _Flare_."

**-Later, when lunch was ready-**

Everyone was staring at the duo with goggling eyes and shock written all over their features.

"Malik, Marik. What happen to you?" Ryou exclaimed but he only received a grunt from his best friend.

The two look-alikes looked down to avoid their gaze; their bodies were all covered with dirty leaves and mud.

"Don't ask why."

**_To Be Continued…_**

The **end** of Chapter 4 has arrived and this time it's longer than the previous chapter, lol. I hope you all enjoy the chapter so far but school is going to reopen soon so I might not have time to update a chapter in one week, probably _two_ weeks if I can.

I hope you like the name of the woodpecker, that's the only name I can think of, lol!

So, stay tune for **Chapter 5: Conversation**!

Last but not least, _**review**_ please!


	5. Conversation

Hey, guys! How have you been lately? (Smiles blithely) I hope all of you have fun at _school_! (But I'm not because of the homeworks and upcoming exams! T.T)

**A very big thanks **to a very kind _**Singaporean**_ and _**US**_ reader faved my story and I'm really happy when I found out about this! Thank you very much, _**Lumrosa-Chan and Malakia **_for brighten up my spirit!

I hope I get _**more**_ hits and faves this time so without wasting your valuable time, let's go straight to the story but _first_…

**Disclaimer**: See Chapter 1

**Beta_: Sumire Mayonaka_**

_**Keys**_:

"Talks"

_'Thoughts'_

**~Flashbacks~**

**Chapter 5: Conversation**

Dark clouds scattered round the night blue sky with small tiny crickets singing joyfully like musicians, producing dulcet melodies that echoed throughout the dismal quiet forest. The pearl-like moon sent its luminous light to a specific place where four tents were found resting near the entrance.

It seemed that everyone was having a nice peaceful slumber except one who was laying on a king sized bed with thoughtful eyes staring at the opened window that caused the moonlight to enter his dull room.

His lavender orbs took a long gaze at the trees that stood nearby his tent and in that instant, the incident that happened earlier this morning abruptly played in his mind like an old movie.

**~Flashback~**

"**Where the heck is **_**he**_**?" Malik thought aloud while surveying the woods in hope to find his target.**

**He was desperately searching for his older identical look-alike but there was no sign of a pineapple-head boy hiding around this area.**

**After what seemed like 2 hours of hide-and-seek, Malik finally gave up and climbed on a huge tree to take a rest.**

"**It should be easy to find him with his big muscular body and his strange, crazy spiked-up hair!" He muttered with a frown.**

"**Oh well, I guess I'll have to find him later, now I need a nap." Malik lay on the tree branch with his legs crossed.**

**Just as he was about to close his sleepy eyes, he felt hot breaths blowing gently near his sensitive ears. The mauve-eyed teen then sprang his head round and he was instantly met with a similar but narrower lavender eyes. **

**Their noses touched and their lips were almost an inch apart from each other. The duo stared at one another with a dumb-founded expression on the younger adolescent while the older youth had lust glint in his mauve irises.**

**The time seemed to freeze in a minute but the sound of two sparrows chirping noisily to each other startled the 'twins'.**

**The younger stripling managed to regain his consciousness and without thinking, kicked Marik's chest so hard that he dropped to the ground with a loud thud.**

"**Ha! I finally found you, now I can have my revenge!" Malik laughed nervously while trying to wipe away the blush that appeared on his cheeks a few seconds ago.**

**Before Marik had a chance to reply, the youth jumped and immediately pinned his look-alike onto the ground.**

"**Got cha!" Malik's grin grew so wide that it covered almost half of his face but that smile did not last long as Marik tackled him and later on managed to escape from his trap.**

"**Catch me if you can." The adolescent spoke in a singsong tone while beaming in triumph.**

**In a split second, he was lost in sight, leaving a very furious Malik alone on the spot.**

**~Flashback ended~**

"Stop thinking about that jerk, Malik!" He mumbled to himself while at the same time, grabbing a soft white pillow and pressed his face into it as hard as he could.

"Just go to sleep." Were his last words before he forced himself to shut his eyes and eventually drifted into a deep sleep.

**-The next morning-**

While the four college students were having breakfast in Ryou's tent, a sweet melody disturbed their chat and Yugi looked at his sky-blue digital watch to find out that he received a call from his friend.

"It's Tea." Yugi spoke audibly and that caught the threesome's attention.

"Tea?" Joey asked with a surprised expression written on his face, his mouth opened so wide that you could see spaghetti and some chili sauce in it.

The star-shaped haired boy took off his watch and placed it on the middle of the table. Soon, a big transparent screen popped out from the watch's small round mirror and that's when an image of a teenage girl began to emerge.

"Hi everyone, it's been a while, hasn't it? How are you?" Tea spoke cheerily with a huge charming smile gracing on her rosy lips.

Before anyone had a chance to reply, another brunet appeared out of nowhere and simply grabbed her shoulders.

"Hey guys, what's up?" He greeted with a huge grin.

"Yo, Tristan, how are ya, man?" Joey exclaimed blithely, seeing his childhood friend enlightened his spirit.

A few seconds later, an emerald-eyed teen stood by their side followed by a beautiful young woman who stared at the screen with her usual sexy look.

"Hey honey, how have you been these days?" The woman with long, silky blonde hair spoke in the sweetest tone possible.

The girl with short brown hair and large ocean blue eyes was named Tea Gardner.

The man that stood beside her who had short, straight dark brown hair that shot like a pointy blade towards the front with narrow brown eyes was known as Tristan Taylor.

Duke Devlin had long straight black hair that tied up in a ponytail style with a red headband wrapped around his head. He also had narrow green eyes and wore two earrings with a tiny dice at each end for decorations.

Mai Valentine was the woman who had long, silky blonde hair that ran down her waist with zigzag bangs in front of her face. Her attractive narrow violet orbs sparkled in the sunlight.

"Everything's fine here, I'm glad that you call us, we all miss you." Yugi said with a smile.

The brunette chuckled while others laughed like chiming bells.

"Yugi, it's only been 3 days."

"Plus, it's just a one-month summer holiday." Duke answered casually as always.

"Yeah, I guess…"

"Anyways, how have you been these days?" Joey asked curiously.

"Well as you can see, we're in the park that's located near my apartment so that we can do some research about the plants." Tristan replied.

In the screen, you could see enchanted flowers and trees encircled the park with young urchins playing in the playground while their parents sat on the benches, chatting happily with each other. Tea and Mai were each sitting on the swing; the other two boys were sitting on a long wooden seesaw while staring at the screen in the opposite direction.

"How about you guys? And mind if I ask, where is your camping place?" Tristan enquired but it was his second question that surprised the foursome.

They obviously knew that Yugi and the others were in a tent judging from the look of the surroundings and now, they had to think of a quick but reasonable answer before their friends get suspicious.

However, Joey was the first person who answered his question.

"We're in the forest…" Joey blurted aloud but when he realized what he just said, his eyes goggled and his skin slowly turned to as pale as a white sheet of paper.

The three adolescents smacked their faces mentally due to Joey's stupidity.

"Forest?" Duke raised an eyebrow at hearing that remark.

"There's _no_ forest in Japan."

Due to the fact that the population in Japan was increasing rapidly every year, the government had to plan deforestation in order to build more houses and industries.

"Are you hiding something from us?" Tea interrogated while at the same time, glaring at the nervous teens ambiguously.

Joey gulped fretfully before saying,

"Actually…"

"Actually!" Malik quickly interrupted his speech.

"We're now in Brasilia's forest reserve that is famously known in Brazil."

As expected, their four friends gasped in shock.

"Brasilia? You mean the one we usually see on TV?" Tristan spoke in an astonished tone.

"The only forest that was awarded a World Heritage Site for nature?" Mai exclaimed; feeling stunned as well.

"I once read the newspaper about it, most of the flora and fauna that's going to extinct in this world can only be found in that forest." Duke said before cogitating, causing the three enthusiastic compeers that stood beside him awestruck.

"Yep, the one and only!" Malik pretended to beam with that smug look on his tan face while his three companions sighed in relief.

"But why didn't you tell us anything about this earlier?" Tea inquired again, making the foursome went back at their wit's end.

"And how did you get through the barrier?" Mai asked curiously.

" If I'm not mistaken, the government doesn't allow citizens to travel throughout the country other than Japan itself unless it's for business or something crucial." Duke's remark made their expression turned back to suspicion.

Fortunately, Yugi managed to answer that question thanks to his perspicacity.

"My dad won a lucky draw from his company and got four free tickets to Brasilia's forest reserve for 5 days and 4 nights two days ago. However, the expiry date for those tickets is within this week so my father told me about this and then asked me to invite my friends as soon as possible."

He paused for a moment to see his friends were listening intently to everything he said on the screen, so he continued his explanation without further delay.

"I was petrified because this happened so suddenly but in the end, Joey, Malik, Ryou and I went straight to the airport and landed here safely yesterday evening."

"We are actually planning to tell you later this afternoon but we didn't expect you to call us now." Ryou quickly added in case they feel doubtful again.

"Hmm…that's plausible." Duke nodded with his hand placed on his chin.

"Aren't your parents worried about you? I mean going to spend the night in the forest alone without any adults beside you?" Tea questioned them like the FBI.

'_She is starting to get on my nerves.'_ Yugi thought silently but little did he know that his three comrades were all having the same thought.

"Don't worry." Yugi assured her.

"My parents are staying with us, they just need to buy another ticket for themselves."

The brunette sighed in relief before giving him her usual bright smile.

"That's a relief."

Before anyone had the chance to speak, the sound of a doorbell echoed around the room. Yugi gave a quick glance at his three mates, who swiftly nodded in response. They knew exactly who's behind that door.

"Are those your parents?" Mai questioned, earning a nod from the tricolor-haired teen.

"So…I guess we'll talk to you later." Tristan said and that one simple sentence instantly brightened up their spirits. They couldn't bear to tell their friends any more lies, not when they were out of contrivance.

"I hope you have fun there." Duke said before grinning.

"I'm so jealous that you guys get to visit that place while _we_ have to stay here doing our project!" Tea squealed in excitement, yet her genuine ocean blue eyes shown a glint of sadness.

Just then, the doorbell rang again and Ryou scrambled to get the door opened.

"Bye guys, see ya!" Joey exclaimed while the foursome waved in unison.

"Bye!" was their last word before the screen disappeared in a flash.

Tea switched her watch back to its original look before coiling it around her wrist.

"I bet they have fun there, not many people get the chance of staying outside Japan." Tristan said before straightening himself.

"I can't believe they get to visit that place in this summer holiday!" Tea uttered a cry of jealously.

"But I thought visitors aren't allowed to enter a forest reserve because they fear that some people might steal valuable plants from it or hunt down wildlife for their own benefit." Duke whispered more to himself than his compeers but they heard him clear enough.

"Maybe Brasilia's forest reserve is an exception to this, you think too much, Duke." Tristan grinned before wrapping his arm round Duke's shoulder.

"I guess."

"So…" Mai decided to change the topic. "Anyone wants pizza?"

The three teens grinned in thought as they walked towards the restaurant that's located on the other side of the street. However, none of them noticed a lone slim figure that hid itself behind a tree with piercing eyes gazing at them like a hunting predator. Its smile slowly turned into a cruel smirk before the figure disappeared as quickly as the gusting wind.

"Phew, that was close." Joey sprawled himself in a dining chair while Yugi placed his watch back to his thin wrist.

Just as he was about to relax, the lavender-eyed youth grabbed his shirt collar and yelled in the ear almost immediately.

"Joey, you idiot! Do you realize what you've just done?"

The honey-brown eyed stripling yelped in fright but quickly recovered from his bemusement before he receive a wake-up punch from his friend.

"I know, I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to do that, it just slipped out and…eep!" Malik pulled the contact between them closer until their noses touched.

"If it wasn't for Yugi's astuteness and my quick-thinking skills, they would have known the truth thanks to _you_ and then, it's over! You and I as well as the others will get into trouble when we get back to the city because they will tell our parents about it and when they found out the truth, we'll be grounded forever!"

Malik took a few deep breaths after releasing his anger on a very shocked Joey, that's when Yugi stood in front of them before patting Malik's shoulder.

"Um, Malik."

"What?"

"Can you let Joey go? The others are staring at us."

The Egyptian unconsciously released his grasp on Joey as soon as he saw five teens standing in front of the kitchen door with perplexed expressions written all over their features.

Yami was the first to recover from his bemusement so he cleared his throat before saying,

"Uhh…did we interrupt you?"

"Oh no, not at all! We've just finished our discussion, right guys?" Yugi giggled nervously while the other two uneasy youths nodded repeatedly with broad smiles on their faces.

"I apologize for my sudden outburst." Malik bowed shamefully, he could feel heat burning on his cheeks.

"It's alright. No worries." Yami said calmly while his cousins surveyed the kitchen in interest.

After long hours of discussion in the meeting that was held two days ago, Seto and the others have decided to stick close to their 'new' friends to find out more about them but careful not to reveal their true identity. They feared that the government sent those four teens here to capture them back to the city and punished them for the disaster they had caused years ago but that was just their assumption.

"So what brings you here?" Yugi asked politely before helping Ryou cleaning the dishes.

"Nothing. We just want to pay you a visit, you don't mind right?" Yami inquired, careful not to reveal their true purpose of coming here.

"Of course, you are always welcomed here. Besides, we're friends aren't we?" Yugi replied while smiling in thought.

"No, we're not." Malik and Joey mumbled sulkily in unison and next, they rewarded themselves each a smack-on-the-head from their albino friend.

"Be polite!" Ryou whispered to them before smiling at the group with an apologetic expression.

"Sorry for their rudeness."

"It's fine." Seto said sternly and when his cold eyes met with Joey's fury ones, let's just say a fierce _'glaring'_ battle was about to begin real soon.

"Hey, I was thinking…" Yami started to say, breaking the sudden silent dreary atmosphere.

"Maybe we should take a walk outside instead of sitting here and do nothing."

"That's a great idea!" Yugi exclaimed in exhilaration while Ryou's eyes sparkled in excitement.

"Alright then, shall we go now?" Yami straightened himself before stretching his left arm in front of his look-alike.

Yugi chuckled lightly before taking Yami's outstretched hand.

"Sure." Yugi said blithely, and together they walked towards the wooden door, leaving their friends behind.

"Let's go." Bakura said in an emotionless tone before walking towards the door followed by his younger 'twin'.

There were now four teens left in the kitchen.

Marik pretended to glance around the room but ended up receiving a glare from Malik. He then whistled innocently, sneaked towards the door in a stealthy step but when he saw Malik slowly getting up from his chair, he flitted in an incredible lightning speed and at the same time, received an angry shout from his Egyptian 'twin' who began to chase him once again.

"Get back here, you coward baka!"

The only two teens left were still glaring at each other with similar expressions displayed on their faces. Silence engulfed them and no one dared to move their bodies even an inch, until one of them blinked his eyes.

"Ah! I give up!" Joey cried breathlessly while releasing the tension on his body.

Kaiba hooted with laughter before giving his opponent his very own victory smirk.

"Ha, I knew you couldn't beat me, there's no way an amateur like you can beat this game."

Joey pouted in defeat. "Not fair."

"Whatever. You lose and that's that." The brunet concluded before he walked towards the entrance as Joey leaped up angrily, tempted to follow him.

"I want a rematch!"

"Accept your fate, loser. You are destined to be defeated."

That remark instantly made Joey's blood boiled in anger.

"I don't care! I'll definitely beat you one day."

"Get over yourself. You irritating, annoying feather-brained mutt."

"What's that you call me?"

"Mutt."

"What?!"

**_To Be Continued…_**

That's it! The end of **Chapter 5** has arrived! Thank you very much for those who read this chapter, I hope you _**enjoy**_ the story so far! (Smiles brightly)

So, stay tune for **Chapter 6: Troubles!**

Finally, _**review**_ anyone?


	6. Troubles

More than **_100_** hits for _**Chapter 5**_! (Feels happy) Thank you to all my dear lovely readers who continue to support me by reading this story! Plus, a very big thanks to **undiagnosedEpIdEmIcXXotaku** for both Author Faves and Story Faves & **TIGGI1** for a nice review and Story Alert! However, I have a _bad_ news to all readers…(Everyone gasped) So, (Clears throat) Here _goes_:

**Attention**: I will _**stop**_ updating stories after **Chapter 6** is published but I will update **Chapter 7** in times between _**June and July**_. After that, I will _**stop**_ updating stories again until _**December**_. This is because I have _**two**__ important exams_ I really need to study hard for if I want to become a **doctor**. (Yes, that's my ambition and most probably goes for _**Pharmacy**_.) So, I'm _really_ sorry for your disappointment but still, I hope you _will_ continue to read my story. _**Wish me good luck, everyone**_! (Smiles sweetly)

**Beta: _Sumire Mayonaka_**

**Disclaimer**: See Chapter 1

_**Keys**_:

"Talks"

_'Thoughts'_

**Chapter 6: Troubles**

It was the time the sun shone the brightest and yet, the forest was just as dark as the night blue sky. It was due to the fact that the trees blocked the sunrays almost completely and only a small beam of light managed to break through the tree's 'barrier'. However, that did not stop a pair of identical 'twins' who headed towards their destination in a quick pace.

"Where are you taking me?" The younger of the two, Yugi asked in his usual innocent tone with his head swinging from left to right.

"Don't worry, I just want you to meet someone." Yami's deep smooth voice assured him while giving Yugi's small hand a gentle squeeze as a way of comfort. "Someone special."

"Someone special?" Yugi repeated and looked at his friend in curiosity.

"Yes, she's a good friend of mine but I'm certainly sure that you two would make great friends." Yami said with a charming smile marked on his lips.

'_She?'_ Yugi thought silently to himself, his once glimmering purple eyes slowly set its gaze onto the ground.

'_I wonder who this special person is, is she Yami's…'_ He quickly shook his head when a word that could break his heart into two entered his mind.

_'Why am I feeling this way? For Heaven's sake, we just know each other for like 3 days. Plus, it doesn't matter to me of whom he's being with, does it?'_

Yugi was obsessed in his thoughts that he barely heard Yami's voice.

"We're almost there, Yugi."

When he didn't receive a reply, he spun round and found himself staring at his younger look-alike who kept ogling at the steep cliff with green grass all over its surface. His face only showed one expression – confound.

"Is something the matter?"

The said teen brought out from his thoughts and spun round to realize that Yami was just a few inches away from him.

"See that orchid over there?" The amethyst-eyed youth pointed towards the direction where a yellow orchid was found standing at the middle of the cliff, its beautiful petals shone as bright as the sun.

"My grandpa loves orchid, that's why his garden was always full of them. It reminds me of him every time I see this flower whenever or wherever I go." His sad voice slowly changed into a whisper.

"I really miss him."

While Yugi's gaze was fixed on the flower, he didn't notice the red-eyed adolescent was staring at him the whole time.

'_I understand how you feel.'_ Yami thought sorrowfully and just as he was about to place his hand on Yugi's shoulder, the purple-eyed stripling knelt and started to climb down the steep cliff.

The size of Yami's eyes expanded when he realized what his little friend was trying to do. "Yugi, no!" He warned. "It's too dangerous…"

"I'll be fine." Yugi interrupted and quickly flashed him a reassuring smile.

However, that smile alone was not enough to convince Yami who continued to protest. "I can help you get it, Yugi."

To his dismay, his 'twin' rejected his offer.

"Thanks but no thanks. I can get it myself."

Yugi looked up once again to see Yami's worried expression written all over his features. "I'll be alright, trust me." He gave his friend a confident wink before he continued to clamber down the slippery cliff.

With his alerted eyes and expeditious hands, Yugi managed to get close to his target within a few minutes much to Yami's amazement.

When the Newcastle student was close enough to get the flower, he held a firm grip on a palm-sized rock while at the same time, stretched out the other hand as far as possible. The enchanted orchid seemed to glow brighter and brighter as the gap between Yugi's fingers and the petals was getting narrower.

This situation caused Yami's heartbeat to increase rapidly like a loud drum. He was so concentrated at seeing Yugi's actions that he wasn't fully aware that he grasped the poor grass with all his strength just to control his fear.

As soon as his fingers touched the flower's soft petals, the determined Yugi made his final move. With his might and main, he forced his body to move forward and grabbed the flower in a fast lightning speed.

Silence engulfed the duo as no one dared to speak a word but when Yugi opened his eyes and saw his most precious item shimmering in his dirty hands, he immediately squealed in exhilaration.

"I did it, Yami, I did it! See?" Yugi proudly raised the flower up high; the sunrays that shone onto the orchid caused it to glitter even more.

"I told you I could do it, am I?" He said playfully while releasing his victory grin to the ruby-eyed teen.

Yami let out a light chuckle before saying,

"Okay, you win. Now, grab my hand and I'll pull you up."

Yugi nodded obediently as he stretched out his arm, ready to climb up and reached for Yami's larger hand but it looked like the Gods were playing cruel tricks on him because when Yugi started to climb, his left foot suddenly slipped and lost its balance. Thus, caused Yugi to lose his grasp on the rocks and started to fall.

Luckily before that happened, Yami slid his body forward and managed to grab Yugi's right hand just in time. Yugi's shock instantly turned into relief as his fast palpitation tardily returned back to normal.

"Thanks Yami. You've just saved my life." He spoke with a grateful smile pasted on his lips.

Yami flashed back a warm smile but just as he was about to pull Yugi up to the surface, the bulging ground underneath Yami's body was unable to withstand the pressure. Therefore without a warning, it slowly broke into pieces of soils, resulting Yami being slid down so in the end, the duo fell off the cliff.

Of course, the two nervous adolescents were screaming at the top of their lungs even when they were clutching each other's hands.

While Yami was desperately thinking of a way to save their lives, he landed on the steep slope with a loud thud and bounced off. When he landed on the slope again, he was sitting on a big strange smooth leaf. A bouncing and shouting Yugi was later ended up sitting behind Yami and soon, their 'roller-coaster' ride adventure began.

Because the leaf they were sitting on was as smooth as the slippery oil, the sliding speed was much faster than a normal roller coaster. This made Yugi yelled a lot louder than before as he shut his eyes and gripped Yami's shoulder with all his energy. On the other hand, Yami was laughing out of joy and grabbed the leaf as though it was his control handle.

"This is fun!" Yami shouted out loud for Yugi to hear.

"Not funny, Yami!" The younger look-alike whined in displeasure.

When Yugi tried to open an eye, a long tree branch appeared and Yami managed to dodge it followed by shrieking Yugi who later dodged it too.

"Come on, Yugi. Open your eyes and enjoy the fun!"

The poor trembling Yugi rested his head on Yami's back and shook his head repeatedly. "No!"

Just then, a helpless ancient boulder that stuck on the ground for decades sent them bouncing up and back onto the surface again. At the same time, Yugi released a loud yelp while Yami laughed at hearing his friend's response. He had never once felt this happy before ever since that 'incident' happened.

However, that was not the end of their adventure as the 'twins' entered a dark area with many tree branches that bent like a curving moon and stuck together to form a round 'tunnel'.

At that moment, the crimson-eyed youth gaped at seeing the view shown in front of him.

"Yugi, look…"

"No!"

"Really, you should look at this. I bet you'll love it!"

Slowly but steadily, Yugi opened his eyes but shut once more when a luminous light wrapped them like a warm hug. As soon as his eyes adjusted to the light, Yugi's features changed completely in a split second.

What the two astonished boys saw was beautiful scenery of the forest – Trees that looked like tiny broccolis with many different heights and sizes covered most of the path. A flock of colorful birds scampered round the blue sky like floating kites. The long narrow unpolluted river that seemed to split the forest into half sparkled on the surface and last but not least, a huge mountain that was half covered with frozen snow stood proudly on the ground. All in all, the landscape was breathtaking.

While the two paralyzed teens were busily watching the view, they didn't realized that a large boulder bounced them off the ground again and sent them flying over a huge gap but luckily after that, they landed on the ground safely and that was the moment the duo snapped out of their thoughts.

"Phew, that was close." Yami said while wiping his sweat off his forehead. "Do you enjoy the scenery?"

Yugi nodded in reply before giving a blithering smile to his friend. "Yep, I do."

Soon, the amethyst-eyed teen was no longer afraid of the 'rides' and just like Yami, he enjoyed it very much as they continued to play 'tree dodges' and 'boulder bouncing' game until...

"Yami, what's that?" Yugi asked curiously while pointing at a brown blurry object that was only a few meters away from them.

As they get closer, the object was soon visible enough to let Yami realized that they were in deep trouble.

"Oh no." The red-eyed adolescent spoke aloud worriedly and felt nervousness slowly taking over his body. "It's a tree."

Yugi thought he was getting a wrong message so he asked again. "Wh…What?"

"It's a _**tree**_!" This time Yami screamed, as he couldn't control his fear anymore. "We're going to get hit by a tree!"

Fright overcame most of Yugi's emotions but he wasn't going to let fear overtook his body. So, he tried to stop that from happening by grabbing the long skinny tree branches but luck was not on his side as most of them were too high for him to reach.

Yami on the other hand, was pressing his hands onto the ground as hard as possible but the leaf kept sliding down the path and sooner or later, the distance between the two boys and the enormous tree was getting closer.

'_Darn it! If I could use my powers…'_ However, Seto had once told him and his cousins that they were forbidden to use their elemental powers around their 'new' friends under any circumstances or else their identities will be revealed.

_'I don't have a choice; I have to do it no matter what.'_

While Yugi shut his eyes and prepared for the worse to come, Yami held out his hands and positioned them towards the tree that was only a few inches away from them.

The burning sensation slowly began to flow through his veins and when he was about to release his powers on the tree, the leaf they sat on had stopped moving.

The ruby-eyed youth who didn't realized he had closed his eyes tardily opened them and found himself staring face to face with the tree. His nose almost touched the hard brown material that they called wood.

Yami looked at his hands, then back to the tree. Then, surprise switched to joy as he realized that somehow, they managed to stop themselves from banging on the tree.

"Yugi, we're safe. I don't how or why but it just stops…"

When Yami spun his head round, he wasn't expecting to see Yugi in a state like this. Instead of seeing Yugi's normal cheerful face, he was staring at something below them with his body shaking uncontrollably and his skin color draining into as white as snow.

"Yugi, what's wrong?"

Fearing that his voice betrayed him, the young fretful teen held out his shaking index finger and pointed downwards. Yami of course, followed his gaze and looked down only to understand why Yugi react that way.

Below them was a waterfall that seemed to pour the fresh clear water down endlessly but why the two teens were trembling was because the waterfall was steep, thrice steeper than the cliff. The only problem was that whether they could make it alive or not if they fall down the slope.

Unfortunately, the bulging slope began to crack into half and before the boys had time to escape, it split into tiny pieces of soils as they both fell from the ground.

At that moment, there was nothing they could do so all they did was screamed, screamed and screamed until their voices turn into echoes, finally the sound of the waterfall splashing down the surface took place.

**-Meanwhile-**

Four teens were spotted walking casually at the **East Wing** while at the same time, chatting with each other happily.

Before that happened, Marik and Malik were 'playing' chases with each other until they happened to bump into the two albinos who were both being quiet the whole time. Marik as expected, was taking Bakura as a 'shield' whilst Ryou was clutching Malik's arm tightly to stop the fight so all the angry Egyptian could do was shouting random stuff with some bad languages in it while pointing his index finger towards his older look-alike.

However, after a few minutes, Malik managed to calm himself and Marik apologized to him later on. In the end, they became 'so-called' good friends.

"What? You guys explode the laboratory? And you even stole some expensive chemicals without the lecturer's notice?" Malik spoke aloud while staring at the two maniacs in a shock expression.

"Yep!" His older look-alike, Marik said with a proud cheery grin.

"Wow, I can't believe you guys would do something like that." Ryou exclaimed with similar surprised expression. "Won't the lecturers punish you for such an act?"

Bakura waved his hand as a sign of saying 'no'. "Nah. They don't have any prove to show that we're the ones who did this. Plus, we only did this twice. Thrice at most because Yami and Seto both knew the truth so they banned us from doing it."

"I see…" Malik wondered aloud. _'Maybe someday, I would like to try that myself, it looks fun to me.'_ He thought with an evil grin formed on his lips.

"Anyways…" Ryou began as he decided to change the topic. "How did you guys get into the forest?"

The two cousins thought silently, trying to find a reasonable answer to that question and finally, it was Marik who spoke first.

"By car of course."

"Car?" Malik repeated as he raised an eyebrow. "How did you get through the barrier by riding a car?"

"Barrier?" The confused duo whispered before they looked at each other as though their faces will tell them an answer.

"Well?" Malik asked impatiently while Ryou looked at them ambiguously. They were in deep trouble now.

Luckily, Bakura managed to find a plausible answer so he said,

"Our car has this special ability to make it invisible, that's why we could get through it."

As expected, their two startled friends gaped at them with eyes as wide as an owl.

"Really? That's awesome!" Malik exclaimed in exhilaration.

"But…" Ryou said as he tilted his head to one side. "That kind of car hasn't created until now although the scientists had plans to do so."

Malik nodded in understanding before he spoke once again. "He's right. So how do you get it when we don't have one in Japan?"

"And it's not just Japan; none of the country has it." Ryou added.

The two daredevils cogitated with unseen sweats rolling down their cheeks. After a minute or so, Malik's patience ran out but just as he was about to open his mouth and shouted, Bakura at the same time replied his question.

"That is because my uncle is a scientist and he just created this invisible car a few weeks ago…" Actually, Bakura's uncle was a clerk that worked in a bank.

"And…" Marik interrupted. "He then decided to let us ride it and tested its invisible ability by going through the barrier and what do you know, it worked!"

"Yes, that's how it is. So anymore questions?" Bakura asked in an impatient tone with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

"Hmm…" Ryou hummed while placing his index finger on his chin like he always did when he was thinking. "So, that car had just created and hasn't got the government's approval?"

"Yes. The car had just tested for less than two weeks and we can't confirm whether it is safe to use for the citizens or not. We need to test it for at least three months and if it works perfectly, then we can get the government's approval." Marik explained while inside his mind, praying that his friends won't ask any more questions.

After what seemed like long hours of thinking, both Ryou and Malik nodded comprehensibly.

"If what you've said is true…" Malik said before a cruel smirk started to form on his lips. "Can you show us the car?"

Ryou's spirit aroused when he heard that comment from his schoolmate. "Yes, please!"

'_Great, another problem occurs.'_ Both Bakura and Marik thought simultaneously with an inward sigh. They knew that they had no choice but to _'obey'_ them for they'll get suspicious again if they don't.

With another deep sigh, Bakura nodded in response before the two eager teens followed him like loyal servants.

'_Now, how do we get an invisible car when there's not even a single car here?'_ The albino brooded anxiously but just then, an imaginative 'light bulb' appeared on top of his head.

He pulled his cousin who was beside him the whole time closer and secretly whispered his plans to his ear. Marik's feature was obviously changing from nervousness to excitement, and then slowly switched to evilness. Oh, this is going to be fun.

The tallest of the four turned to his friends and cheerily said,

"I'm going to check the car's condition." Then, he was gone like a disappearing ghost.

When Marik was far enough from them, he closed his eyes and concentrated on his elemental power that was slowly awakening in his blood. Tree branches started to sprout from his glowing green hands and with his creative mind, created a tree-made sport car in approximately 5 minutes.

'_This should do the trick.'_ Marik thought with a smile while stroking the car like it was his most-prized item. A few minutes later, his friends arrived followed by a few talks and giggles behind Bakura.

Without warning, Malik's eyes glimmered in excitation as soon as he saw the sport car. "Wow, this is awesome!" He exclaimed while running his fingers on the car's surface.

Ryou's jaw nearly dropped to the ground as he stood beside Malik and touched it as well.

"I've never seen something like it. A car made up of nothing but trees?" He swung round and gave Bakura a perplexed expression; his eyes clearly said that he demanded for an explanation.

"My uncle wanted to make something out of ordinary." The taller white-haired albino answered with a shrug. "Also, this car brings many advantages. It was light enough for two people to carry since it's all made up of trees and easy to repair."

Ryou nodded to show that he was listening while his eyes fixed on the incredible object. "I see…"

"I wonder how the engine works." Malik thought aloud as he tried to open the bonnet but stopped when his 'twin' jumped into the seat and clamored with a playful grin on his lips.

"Come on, guys. We're going for a ride."

Without hesitation, the other three youths hopped into the seats as well.

"The seats are really uncomfortable." The shorter Egyptian complained while examining the car in curiosity. "It doesn't have radio either."

"Stop complaining, Malik. You should be grateful that Marik and Bakura offer us a ride. You begin to act more like Joey, you know."

Ryou's remark instantly stopped Malik from having anymore complains. The duo sat quietly but did not notice the exchange glances the two cousins were giving each other. Evil grins emerged on their faces before Bakura the driver channeled his power to the wheel.

Slowly but steadily, the tree-made sport car afloat from the surface and began to move forward. Soon, it functioned like any other ordinary cars as it floated until they were above the trees.

Malik and Ryou who were sitting silently behind them the whole time glanced at the view in awe.

"Wow, I didn't know that the forest can be so beautiful and attractive." The lavender-eyed teen admitted while watching the birds flying above the tall-looking trees like they were dancing in the air.

When they passed through the **South Wing**, Ryou instantly spotted two arguing figures standing beside the river.

"That's Seto and Joey!" The albino exclaimed while pointing towards the direction where they saw a honey-brown eyed youth staring sharply at the taller brunet who pretended to ignore him completely.

"You're right. Hey, Joey! Seto!" Malik called out whilst waving his hands wildly like a flapping bird.

However, before either Joey or Seto notice them, the driver quickly drove to another direction with an amazing lightning speed.

"Hey, what'd you do that for?" The tanned-skin Newcastle student said with a pout. At the same time, Joey asked his so-called friend with his head spinning from left to right.

"Did you hear something?"

"No." Was Seto's simple answer so the blond-haired teen shrugged in response before the duo continued their conversation…I mean fights.

While everyone in the car was each having a peaceful and enjoyable time looking at the beautiful scenery, something has gone wrong with Bakura's power.

'_Not now. Not this time.'_ The taller white-haired albino thought anxiously while desperately trying to control his power as best as he could but in the end, Bakura lost control of his power as the car's speed slowly palliated.

"Wh…what's going on?" Malik asked as he began to feel panic.

"Just calm down. I'm sure the car is doing just fine."

Unfortunately as soon as Marik spoke his last word, the car abruptly stopped moving. Thus, causing it to drop down from the sky within a few seconds.

As expected, the boys screamed at the top of their lungs since they expected more pain and blood as soon as they reached the ground but luckily, they ended up dropped into a huge supportable tree.

"Ouch. That really hurts!" Malik shrieked as he pulled out a sharp tree branch from behind his back.

"Is everybody alright?" Bakura asked while trying to get out from the car but couldn't because there were many tree branches surrounding him like a prison.

"I guess so." Ryou whispered as he tried to crawl back onto the seat.

"Where are we?" Marik asked more to his older cousin than his friends.

"Don't know." Bakura replied. "And I think we're stuck in this damn tree."

It took a full minute for others to realize that they were in deep trouble.

"Hey, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" The tallest of the group questioned before receiving a nod from the Air Elemental.

"Yep. There's only one thing we can do."

All four teenage boys nodded to each other before they began to call for help, causing the animals to scramble out from their hiding place.

A few hours passed by but neither Joey nor Kaiba could find their companions so during dinnertime, the duo went out to search for them together.

"Where are they?" Joey asked furiously whilst watching the blue-eyed adolescent searching for his cousins in apprehension.

"I don't know but what I _do_ know is that the lesser you talk, the sooner we get to find them."

The shorter of the two was obviously getting infuriated after receiving that comment.

"I know you're worried about them but you shouldn't...wait, what's that?"

Soon, they both heard strange noises coming from the Northwest side of the forest. Without a second thought, the two teenage boys ran towards the direction of the noise and as they get closer, the noises were soon turned out to be snores.

Even thought it was nighttime, they could see the view clear enough especially when the moonlight shone onto the path and finally onto a particular tree.

What the two youths didn't expect to see was that the people they were looking for were sleeping soundly in the tree with tree branches encircled them like curling ropes. It looked like they were using so much energy on shouting that they got tired and eventually, fell asleep.

Anime sweat drops falling down Joey's forehead whilst Kaiba on the other hand, was clenching his fist in anger before he yelled as loud as he could to wake the foursome up.

"Wake up, you stupid lazy pigs. Do you know what time it is?!"

_**To Be Continued…**_

The end of **Chapter 6** has arrived! (Wipes sweat) I've made this chapter _extra long_ since I decided to stop updating stories until _June_ or _July_. I hope you enjoy this story so far! (Smiles sweetly) If you have any questions, feel free to ask me by sending a **PM**! Again, I'm really sorry for the delay but I hope you understand and hopefully continue to support me by reading this story or maybe even better, _**faves and alerts**_! (Laughs)

So, stay tune for **Chapter 7: Search!**

Finally, _**review**_ please! **Thank you!**


	7. Search

Oh my, I have _**stopped**_ writing since _**February**_ and now it's_** June**_ already! I'm terribly **sorry** to those who have waited for an update so eagerly** but **I **thank you** for being such a _**patient**_ person (and _**thanks so much for the wonderful faves and alerts**_!) hence as I promised in _**Chapter 6**_, I will update _**Chapter 7**_ after I finish my _**May-June exam**_ so here it is! I hope everyone enjoy this chapter as much as I do and by the way before I forget, I have a _**surprise**_ to all my dear readers so please read on before I show you this special gift! But before that…

**Beta: _Natoya_**

**Disclaimer**: See Chapter 1

_**Keys**_:

"Talks"

_'Thoughts'_

**Chapter 7: Search**

"Where am I?" A boy called from a far away distance…

"I can't see anything…" All he can see was darkness…

"Anybody here?" And yet, no one answered him…

…But…

Suddenly out of nowhere, he heard someone…coughing.

"Who's that?" Asked the curious teen as he felt himself slowly walking towards the source of that sound.

As he walked closer, more coughs were heard and it seemed louder and clearer with every step he took. Before the youngster could say anything, the coughs stopped and at that moment, he heard his name being called…

"Yami…"

His ruby eyes expanded the moment that frail recognizable voice reached his ears.

"I know that voice…" Gasped the stunned adolescent as he felt both feet fastened its pace. "It's…"

Without warning, an incandescent light embraced the young adult like an invisible rope coiling around his body, preventing him from going any step closer to his destination but he saw it. About 5 steps ahead of him, was a weary old man sitting on a wheel chair staring at the empty space.

While the young stubborn teen trying to reach out for him, the emotionless man looked at him. His eyes showed nothing but misery before shadows took place once again and the last thing the boy saw was the vulnerable man coughing terribly and then cold, red blood spitting out from his quivering mouth. "No, wait!"

"Father!" The red-eyed stripling screamed as he quickly sat up while letting sweat dripping down his worried face.

"Ouch…" Yami cried and at the same time, placing a hand on his forehead. "Why is my head felt so painful?"

After taking a few deep breaths, Yami laid his head on the nearest tree trunk and shut his eyes. "Thank goodness, it was just a bad dream." However, as soon as the image of his father entered his mind, his body trembled uncontrollably. "But that dream felt so real…"

When Yami opened his exhausting eyes, the first thing he saw was a familiar 'twin' walking towards him carrying fruits. "Oh, I see you're awake." Yugi smiled adorably which made Yami smiled back as well.

"Hmmm…" The amethyst-eyed boy bent down to get a closer look of Yami's face. "You don't look too good, is something wrong?"

The older 'twin' shook his head immediately before he stood up and brushed the dirt off his clothes. "No, I'm fine."

However, Yugi's expression clearly told him that he disagreed with him. "Are you sure? You look…"

In that instant, a loud grumbling sound was heard.

"You must be hungry." The shorter of the two said with a chuckle. "I brought you some fruits." He then gave a fresh, red apple to Yami who gladly took it. "Thanks."

While they had both finished their breakfast and were having a nice chat with each other, a question surged through Yugi's mind. "Where are we anyway?"

To his dismay, Yami gave him a disappointed answer. "I don't know." He spoke noticeably while looking round the surroundings. "I've never been here before."

"You don't?"

The sight of the older look-alike shaking his head was the only response he gets.

_'I think it's the place where father told us not to go before our departure to the forest. It's a hazardous, forbidden part of the forest where many wild animals lived and could easily get lost when it's dark. There even have stories and rumors saying those who've been to this place never returns or even survives.'_

Yami's spine tingled in trepidation when the thought of no one successfully escape invaded his mind. Before the tri-colored haired teen could think any further, he heard an audible voice calling for him.

"Yami, Yami? Earth to Yami!" The sound of Yugi's fingers snapping instantly brought Yami out from his thoughts. "Are you alright, Yami?"

Without thinking, the ruby-eyed stripling raised both hands up and smiled nervously. "I'm okay, I'm just thinking…that's all."

What he didn't expect to see was Yugi's look that abruptly changed from concern to flabbergast. "Oh my, Yami!" He gasped in shock. "Your hands!"

The surprised teen looked at his bruised hands before realizing that he got these wounds from pressing the ground too hard back when they're in their 'little' adventure. Nonetheless, he gave a reassuring smile to his worried friend. "My hands are fine, they're just…"

"Oh no you don't, mister!" Yugi for the first time glared at his red-eyed companion with a finger pointed in front of Yami's blank face. "You keep telling me you're okay with this, you're fine with that but not this time."

The amethyst-eyed youth stared at his speechless friend for a moment before he continued. "I can clearly see that you have cuts and bruises all over your hands and if they don't get treated, infection will soon occur or maybe even worse, you can get sick anytime."

Yami couldn't help but smiled after hearing Yugi's speech as no one except his cousins and family would have cared so much about him, so the taller tri-colored haired adolescent had nothing to say but to let out an inward sigh before saying,

"Alright, I listen to your advice this time." He said with a nod. "So do you bring any bandages or antiseptic?"

Yugi swiftly remembered something after hearing that comment. "Crap, I left my bag in my tent." He groaned while slapping a hand on his forehead. "The only stuff I have is the laser pen and a mini torchlight."

Then again this did not worried Yami at all so he calmly said,

"It's fine, I'm okay with it. Besides, it's just a…"

"I've got it!"

Yami's speech was soon cut off when Yugi out of the sudden, cried in delight.

"I remember there's a plant that can help you cure your wounds." The younger look-alike exclaimed while giving a cheery smile to his comrade. "And thankfully, it can be found in the forest so hopefully I can find it around here."

Before the taller teen could say anything, Yugi quickly added,

"You stay here, Yami while I go get the plant."

Then Yugi was gone like a vanishing ghost, leaving Yami all alone in the woods but not before he heard Yugi's voice telling him that he'll be back soon.

The red-eyed teenager stared at the forest where Yugi had disappeared to a while ago before he shook his head and gazed at the clear blue sky above him.

"Now how should I get out of this place?"

**Meanwhile, in the cottage…**

"What?"

Both Bakura and Marik woke up as soon as they heard Seto's startling shout.

"What is it? Are the mice stealing our food again?" Marik drawled with a somnolent voice while lazily scratching his head.

The tall brunet spun round to face his two lethargic cousins whose expressions swapped to anxiety when they saw Seto's infuriated look.

"Yami hasn't come back." Was all he said.

"Oh, is that all?" Replied Bakura as he lay on his bed, ready to fall asleep again. Seto was obviously getting even more enrage after hearing the white-haired boy's comment thus without a second thought, he pulled Bakura's shirt up and glared at him.

"Is that all you say? What if Yami is in danger or get ambushed by the wild animals? What if he got into some kind of trouble and fell off the slope? Or even…" The blue-eyed youth paused for a moment before he whispered to his idiotic cousins. "Captured by the new _'friends'_ of ours?"

The chocolate-eyed stripling pushed his older cousin away before crossing his arms and said,

"You worry too much."

Before Seto could protest, Marik hastily patted his shoulders, hoping to calm him down.

"I'm sure Yami is fine, he knows how to take care of himself after all. Plus, maybe he's staying with Yugi and the others."

After seeing his cousin finally getting relaxed, the Egyptian walked towards the small round wooden table and took a fresh pear from the basket. However, Seto was still feeling doubtful even if what Marik said was reasonable.

"But he could have told me before he leave the cottage…" The brown-haired adolescent wondered aloud while placing a hand on top of his chin. "Where could he be without coming back here for breakfast?"

Unexpectedly, a knock on the door was heard, resulting the startled boys snapping out from their thoughts.

"That must be Yugi and the others." The blue-eyed stripling spoke audibly while the other two devils nodded in response. Seto had decided to tell the 'newcomers' the cottage's location in case they needed to find them but lied about the cottage being a disguised tent since the cottage looked pretty old and they didn't want their friends to think that they had been living in the forest for years.

"Bakura, go open the door."

The white-haired teen was obviously staring at the brunet with a look of anger, so he just sat on his bed without moving and retorted in a deathly truculent tone.

"Why me?"

"Because you're the closest to the door."

"Well, you're near to the door either and you're easy to get it since you have _long_ pairs of hands."

'_Oh no, not again.'_ Thought the Egyptian while at the same time, slapped a hand on his face.

You see, whenever they received a knock on the door, Yami was always the one who opened it but when he's not in the house, Seto would tell Bakura or the maid to open the door since he didn't like doing those things and he's always busy with the computer back when they were at home. Plus, Seto was the second cousin and so, was older than Bakura and Marik. However…

Bakura was apparently a person who dislikes people ordering him to do things except his parents because only **he** can order people and _**not**_ people order him. That's also one of the _**top 10 rules**_ that everyone who knew him must obeyed or else he'll buried you alive…except his parents and cousins of course.

"Me? I'm the eldest here and you, being _younger_ than me should listen to people who's _older_ than you."

"Why you…"

"Hey guys…" Marik was about to stop the fight when suddenly, two knocks on the door were heard and this time was louder than before.

"I go get it." The purple-eyed adolescent said with a saddened sigh before he walked towards the door and opened it, revealing his annoyed 'twin' and his friends standing impatiently.

"What took you so long?" Malik said in an intolerant tone whilst crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Sorry about that, please come in." The taller golden-haired stripling answered before he allowed the boys to enter the room. "So what brings you here?"

"I was wondering if Yugi's with you." Ryou asked and at the same time, looking around the small narrow room. Even though he showed a calm expression, they could clearly hear the fearful tone behind his voice.

"No, Yugi is not with us." Seto replied solemnly before he stood up and walked towards Ryou. "Is Yami with you?"

"No, Yami is not with us too." After saying those words, the white-haired teen felt even more anxious than before.

"I was afraid you were going to say that." The tallest man in the room said before cogitating. "So that means they're..."

"Eloped?"

Immediately, all eyes set on the taller lilac-eyed Egyptian.

"I was only joking."

"This is _**not**_ the right time for jokes, you moron!" The younger look-alike quickly smacked his head as soon as he heard those words, earning a yelp of pain from Marik.

"I suggest we split up and look for them in different locations, that would be the quickest way to find them." The smartest brunet suggested while everyone nodded in agreement.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go before it gets dark!" Malik being the most impatient one sputtered aloud and was ready to go towards the door if his stronger 'twin' hadn't grabbed his arm and told him to stay.

"Ryou and Bakura, you two search at the **East Wing**. Malik and Marik, you guys search at the **West Wing** while Wheeler and I go to the **South Wing**." Seto paused for a moment to see everyone nodded in understanding. "We'll meet at the entrance before sunset, got it?"

As expected, the teenagers nodded in response before they walked out of the door, split up and searched on their own ways. At that same moment, Seto whispered something to himself.

"Yami, where the heck are you?"

**Meanwhile, on the other side of the forest…**

"Achoo!" Exclaimed a sneezing Yami as he cuddled his chilly body, hoping to warm himself up.

'_For some reason, I feel as if someone is talking about me.'_ Wondered the red-eyed stripling. He then glanced round the surroundings and thought,

_'The others must have started searching for us, I better find a way back quick before…'_

"I found it, Yami!"

As soon as he heard his look-alike's voice, Yami spun round to see Yugi running towards him with the usual excited smile on his features.

"Here it is." Yugi panted and at the same time, wiping sweat from his forehead. "This plant could help you heal your wounds."

He then showed his taller 'twin' the flower that he had been looking for the past few minutes. The soft bright purple petals glowed as soon as the sunlight shone on them and if you look closer, you will see round bright red berries positioned below the petals and leaves that seemed to look tasty to eat, but it was actually those berries that possessed the amazing healing abilities.

"I think I've seen that plant in encyclopedia. Many people use it for making juices or medicines because it's full of nutrients and vitamins that could help us fight harmful bacteria in our body system."

"That's right and I was lucky that it isn't hard to find here." As soon as he spoke his last word, the shorter tri-colored haired teen swiftly plucked the berries out from the plant and squished them with his small bare hands. Blood-like liquid slowly flowing out from his fist and before its droplets reached onto the ground, Yugi pasted the red berry's juice onto Yami's injured hands. "You just sit still while I do the rest of the work."

Yami had nothing to say so he just nodded whilst watching the younger boy's hand slowly and delicately pasting the juice on his wounds.

'_He really do look like a complete different person when he's doing his work.'_ Yami thought as he was gazing at Yugi's serious expression. _'Calm, collected and careful are the only things I see in him now, unlike his usual happy-go-lucky self.'_ The taller adolescent smiled secretly when an image of Yugi smiling at him flashed through his mind.

Just then, Yami noticed something he didn't realized for so long since he first met Yugi. _'Those pure angelic purple eyes of his seem even more attractive if I wasn't sitting that close to him now and his skin…'_

While Yugi was so concentrated at doing his work, he didn't realize that his taller friend was watching him the whole time. _'His skin is as smooth as silk, wonder what it feels like if I touch it.'_ Yami thought silently whilst at the same time, unconsciously jerked his face an inch forward. _'Those soft rose-like petal lips of his…I wonder what it taste like too.'_

"There…I've done it, Yami." Yugi said while giving his look-alike's hands a few massaging treatment but just then, he gasped distinctly when he felt something happened to Yami's hands in an unpredicted way.

"Yami, your hands!" Exclaimed the alarmed Yugi as he stared at his taller companion who had just snapped out from his thoughts.

"Your hands, they're getting hotter than before." The amethyst-eyed stripling told him with an apprehensive expression. "Did you get a fever?"

Without thinking, Yugi quickly touched Yami's forehead, then his cheek with both hands. "They're hot too!"

Those actions had already struck Yami into a speechless unmovable doll as no one except his parents had touched his face before. Not only that, Yugi had moved a few inches closer whereas at the same time, touching Yami's forehead and cheek over and over again without knowing how close the distance was between Yami and himself. This subsequently caused Yami's body temperature to increase rapidly like a shooting rocket.

At this moment, all the older tri-colored haired boy could think of…was Yugi's sweet rosy lips as one more step closer; their lips would have connected to each other.

"Yami, are you having a cold, or have you…" As soon as Yugi looked up and realized how close he was to Yami's face, he instantly took his hands off the ruby-eyed adolescent and looked away shyly. "Sorry…"

In that instant, Yami brought out from his thoughts once again. "Erm, it's alright." Was all he could say before he let his gaze set onto the grassy ground.

A few minutes passed by without delay and no one spoke a word ever since, until the shorter of the two decided to break the silence. "Erm…"

Yami looked up as soon as he heard his younger comrade's fragile voice.

"Your hands are healed now."

The taller youth smiled when he heard that comment.

"Thank you."

"No problem." Yugi quickly replied, still not daring to meet his gaze. "I'm…going to wash my hands at the river."

"Okay."

As soon as Yami spoke that one word, the younger 'twin' hastily ran towards the forest in a split second without waiting for a reply but Yami could see the red blush that stained on Yugi's cheek. _'Yugi looks pretty cute when he's blushing…wait, cute?'_

Yami mentally smacked his own head to get rid of that thought. _'What am I thinking? I have never react like this before…'_

When he looked at his healed hands, he remembered the feeling he had felt when Yugi was healing his wounds. _'That reminds me, why did my body temperature increase so much back then?'_ Yami wondered as more questions swimming through his mind. _'Why did I feel this way every time when I'm with Yugi?'_ He then ogled at the clouds above him like he thought he could get some answers just from seeing it.

_'Why?'_

**Meanwhile, in the South Wing…**

Two youngsters were found strolling around the forest with their alerted eyes looking for two persons, Yugi and Yami.

"Hey, do you think those two had gone back to the cottage or the tent while we were searching for them?"

Sadly, the brunet was being too apprehensive that he kept on searching without answering Joey's question. _'I have to find Yami quick before he does something careless, I'm worried that he will reveal our identity.'_ Was all he was thinking whereas Joey kept bombarding him questions.

"Maybe they got lost in some part of the forest that we've never seen before…hey Seto, are you listening?"

"It's Kaiba." The blue-eyed teen retorted sharply as no one was allowed to call him by his first name except his parents and cousins.

"Fine, Kaiba…" The blond-haired playboy grumbled before crossing his arms in front of his well-built chest. "So do you think…"

"I think it's best if you stop talking and search for them quickly before it gets dark, you're wasting time here."

Perceptibly, those offensive but plausible words made Joey enraged straight away as he glared at his _so-called_ companion and furiously spoke,

"Why do you have to be so rude, iceberg? I would appreciate if you could answer back to me _politely_."

"Polite you say?" Kaiba enquired as he stood up from the ground and spun round to meet the Newcastle student.

"I don't have to be polite in front of a boy who keep getting detention all week at college, not getting _any_ achievement whether in academic or in sports, thinks of food all the time and can't even get to solve a simple Biology question."

"Hey, don't you think you're going a bit too far?" Said the infuriated Joey while his hands slowly formed into a fist. _'No one has ever said those things to me and if someone did…'_ The belligerent teen then looked at his powerful fist and smirked. _'He'll earn his little 'reward'._'

Just as Joey was about to spin his head round and ready to punch Kaiba's back, something caught his eyes. _'What was that?'_

A few seconds later, the object moved tardily but the honey-brown eyed youth saw it clear enough and his eyes widened as big as an egg when he saw a deathly poisonous snake slowly making its way to its target – Kaiba.

'_Oh no, it's a snake. What should I do? What should I do?'_ Thought a panic Joey as he tried to look for a sharp object somewhere nearby but luck wasn't on his side as all he could see was tall trees and grasses. _'Come on, Joey. Think.'_

Too late…when the brunet was busily looking through the bushes, the snake had already reached his leg.

'_Yummy.' _Was the only word that displayed in the snake's wicked eyes and as it was about to take its action and plunge its venomous fangs into that juicy leg, a loud shout was heard throughout the tedious shadowy forest.

"Look Out!"

When Kaiba spun his head round, Joey had already grabbed the annoyed snake and with all his courage, threw it on the nearby tree aggressively and knocked the snake out of its consciousness. As a result, the creature was beginning to feel lackadaisical and was later dead.

"Phew, that was close." Thought the blond-haired stripling as he wiped the sweat off his forehead with his dirty hands.

"How can you do that without thinking about your safety?" Kaiba exclaimed, shock written all over his face. "You can get poisoned you know!"

"I don't have time to think of that!"

Those words alone shut Kaiba's mouth instantly as he could only watch the angry teenager who straightened himself and brushed the dirt off his hands.

"When I saw the snake is about to attack you, all I can think of is to safe you from getting poisoned." Joey said truthfully, his gaze never leaves the ground. "I hadn't even thought about my safety at that moment."

Silence took place since Joey's last speech, until the taller of the two decided to speak up,

"Thank you."

Did he just hear Kaiba saying thank you to him?

When Joey looked up, the blue-eyed adolescent had already looked away and watched the bright blue sky above him. A few seconds later, a genuine smile painted on the honey-brown eyed boy's face. However, just as he was about to say something to Kaiba, a strange feeling suddenly gave his body a shiver before pain took place on his left leg.

A loud shriek of hurt caught the brunet's attention and as he spun round, Joey was already dropped to the ground.

"Hey, what happen to you?" The Oxford student enquired but his question was soon answered when he saw a larger snake gliding beside Joey's injured leg, its mouth opened wide to show blood marked on its vicious fangs.

Surprised switched to fury as without a second thought, the brown-haired youth gripped the frightened snake in a mighty fist and forcefully used a hard wooden stick to hit the reptile.

"Die you evil creature, die!" Chanted Kaiba as he continued to knock the poor snake on the ground repeatedly as Joey observed his comrade's actions in bemusement. _'Remind me never to get on Kaiba's bad side from now on.'_

As soon as the lifeless snake had been beaten into as thin as a paper, The taller boy threw the stick away and rushed over to check Joey's condition. "Hey, are you alright?"

"I'm…fine." Joey said as he tried to strangle his words out from his tremulous mouth. "Don't worry."

"No, you're not. I can see your body trembling really badly and your hands are getting cold." Kaiba snapped indignantly as he held Joey's injured leg and before Joey could stopped him from doing anything, the Water Elemental speedily sucked the venom out from his wound before spitting the blood out.

"Hey, Kaiba you…"

"Don't say anything and let me do the work."

The blond-haired youngster had nothing to say but to obey Kaiba's orders. Minutes passed by in a blink of an eye and only the sound of the birds chirping happily and small wild animals running round the forest looking for food could be heard until…

"Done." The taller brunet said as he wiped the blood from his mouth. "You're fine now."

"Thanks for saving me."

"You don't have to thank me. After all, you saved me first so I was only paying the 'debt' back to you."

As soon as those hurtful words spoke from his companion's mouth, Joey's hatred for Kaiba was back in a flash. However, when Joey tried to stand up, his injured leg was shaking like a jelly before he fell onto the ground with a howl of pain.

"Can't stand?" Kaiba asked before he kneeled in front of his so-called friend. "Of course you can't, you've just got injured from a snake's bite."

Before the Newcastle student could protest, Kaiba spun round and gestured Joey to climb on his back.

"Hey, I can walk you know."

"Don't be so stubborn and just hop onto my back, will you?"

After releasing an inward sigh, the honey-brown eyed stripling did as he was told and Kaiba grabbed Joey's heavy legs as he began to walk back to the entrance.

"We're going back to the entrance already?"

"Of course dummy, it's getting late now and I believe we've searched through the whole place."

The speechless Joey let out a disappointed pout before he coiled his hands round Kaiba's neck and laid his head on his back. _'Hmm, I didn't know laying on Kaiba's back can be so comfortable.'_

The rest of the journey then went on silently… but then,

**In the West Wing…**

"Marik, stop running around right this instant!"

"No way, not when they keep chasing me from behind!"

Marik was having trouble dealing with angry-looking bees while his 'twin' watched him from afar in a frustrated look. It seemed that while Marik was searching for their friends above the trees, he accidentally stepped onto a beehive and tripped. Thus, the beehive dropped to the ground and tons of irritated bees started to chase him for revenge and they had been playing chases for as long as 30 minutes.

"Don't you even know that if you stop moving around, the bees won't chase after you?" His younger look-alike whispered as he looked away when he heard Marik's scream above one of the trees.

"Idiot."

**To Be Continued…**

Hurray! The end of **Chapter 7** has finally arrived! (Throws confetti) I finally done it and I hope everyone enjoy reading it so far. Oh, and before I forget, if you guys want to read more of my _**upcoming stories**_, you better go _**vote for my poll**_ now! I'll be waiting for new votes from you! :)

I'm sorry that _**Bakura**_ and _**Ryou**_ aren't showing much of a scene here but I will in the next chapter! :D Also, I want to say _**sorry**_ to the _**Puppyshippers**_ out there for _**not**_ showing much scenes of them in _**Chapter 6**_ so I add more of them in here, I hope you enjoy it! XD

That's all for now and I'll update _**Chapter 8**_ in _**December**_ as I've said in _**Chapter 6**_ so stay tune and as always, _**faves**_ and _**alerts**_ are welcomed! (Laughs)

So, stay tune for **Chapter 8: Obstacles**!

**P.S:** Did you guys enjoy the _**Puzzleshipping fluff**_ and _**Puppyshipping fluff**_ so far? :D


	8. Obstacles

Hello, everyone! How have you been lately? I've done all my exams for now so hopefully, my grades will get better than before and as I promised, I'll update _**Chapter 8**_ between _**Nov-Dec**_ so here it is! I'm sorry for keeping you waiting (and again, **thanks a lot** for the wonderful faves and alerts) but please enjoy reading this chapter. I just hope that my writing skills won't get worse since I stop writing for so long. (Cries)

**Beta**: _**Natoya**_

**Disclaimer****: **See Chapter 1

_**Keys**_**:**

"Talks"

_'Thoughts'_

**Chapter 8: Obstacles**

"It's getting late, I better hurry and meet up with the others." A brunet with cold, stern blue eyes glanced at the beautiful, breathtaking sunset whilst quickening his pace.

"Hey, mutt. We're getting close to the entrance." He paused when he realized his so-called friend didn't answer him.

"Hey, what are you…"

Before he could finish his sentence, an audible snore reached his ears and he sighed when he knew where that sound came from.

"I can't believe he can fall asleep at a time like this."

After a few minutes of running and panting, Kaiba soon saw everyone waiting for them at the entrance. When he reached his destination, he hurriedly asked the question that surged through his brain.

"So, did you find them?"

The sight of his cousins and friends shaking their heads made him more depressed but he soon snapped out from his thoughts when someone called out to him and hesitantly inquired,

"What happened to Joey?"

Kaiba glanced at the person behind him before he calmly replied,

"He's just got bitten by a snake, but I sucked the venom out of his injury so he should be fine for now."

The white haired youth whose name was Ryou sighed but startled when he heard Kaiba's immediate scream.

"Marik, what the hell happened to you?"

The guy with pineapple-shaped hair who was known as Marik winced before saying,

"Erm…it's…uh…"

"He got stung by bees because he accidentally knocked down the beehive." Came a simple explanation from his look-alike, Malik.

Kaiba had a sudden urge to cover his face with one hand but couldn't since he was carrying Joey.

"How can you be so careless?" He said with a frustrated sigh. "Anyways, we'll continue to search for them tomorrow morning so for now, let's have dinner together and Ryou, take Wheeler and treat his wounds."

Ryou nodded in response and slowly but carefully, took the sleeping Joey away from Kaiba's grasp.

"Okay, I will."

"As for you Malik…" Kaiba paused to look at the mauve-eyed boy who's staring back at him with a questioning look on his face.

"I want you to help Marik treat his injuries."

Malik gave a grumpy look at his 'twin', then back to Kaiba, and again back to his 'twin' before he release a disappointed sigh and simply said,

"Fine."

It was during that time that Kaiba and the others went back to their respective homes to do their own business before they went to Ryou's tent to have dinner together. Since Joey couldn't walk because of his injured leg, Ryou had to bring his food to his own room where his honey-brown eyed friend rested. He decided that he would sleep on the floor and look after his friend for the time being.

A few hours after dinner, Kaiba and Bakura bid their goodbyes and went back to their cottage silently but on their way home, the tallest of the two ogled at the night blue sky which showed nothing but sparkling little stars and a full moon as round as a pearl. At the same time, a thought that gave him a shiver swam through his mind.

'_For some reason, I had a feeling that something bad is going to happen real soon.'_ Kaiba ruminated while watching Bakura opening their old wooden cottage door. _'I hope you're alright, Yami.'_

**Meanwhile, on the other side of the forest…**

A ruby-eyed adolescent gazed at the gloomy, dark sky while having various thoughts running through his brain. He was meditating so much that he didn't notice his younger look-alike was staring at him for a long time.

"Hey, Yami?"

Yami snapped out from his thoughts when he heard his name being called.

"Yes, what is it?" He spoke with a charming smile marked on his lips.

"Is something bothering you?"

Yami was slightly surprised at first, but quickly gave his companion a reassuring smile.

"No, it's nothing…I'm just thinking. That's all."

"But the look on your face tells me it isn't."

Yami paused to look at Yugi's concerned expression before he sincerely answered,

"I'm trying to think of a way to get out of this place."

"I see." Was the only response he got from his amethyst-eyed pal. "I hope we can escape from here soon, the others must have been worried and start to search for us by now."

"You're right but it's not safe to wander around the woods right now so we have to stay here for the night."

The younger of the two nodded tardily before he gave Yami a sad whisper. "Yeah."

Yugi's expression saddened him as well but they had no choice but to sleep here until tomorrow morning. Just before he was about to lie on a tree trunk and drift to sleep, he heard a sneeze coming from his 'twin' but luckily, he brought along his sweater so he draped it over Yugi's shoulders to give him warmth.

"Yami, you don't have to…"

"It's okay, you can have my sweater. I don't need it anyway."

"Are you sure?" The smaller tri-colored haired teen gave him a worried look but Yami nodded while releasing the same attractive smile. At that same moment, he thought to himself mutely,

'_I'm a Fire Elemental after all so I can withstand the cold temperature.'_

Yugi smiled sweetly before he wrapped Yami's sweater round his fragile body and lay on the tree trunk with a content sigh.

"Thank you."

"No problem. Goodnight Yugi."

"Goodnight Yami."

Yami stared at the deep blue sky once again whilst cogitating with an inward smile.

'_It's nice to see Yugi smiles like that once in a while, it somehow gives a warm pleasant feeling inside me.'_

That was his last thought before drowsiness overtook both his body and mind and in that instant, the two comrades fell into a deep slumber but little did they know that something bad was going to happen very soon.

**The next day morning after breakfast, in Ryou's tent…**

"Ryou!"

The white-haired teenager spun round to look at his schoolmate who was outlandishly, running towards him with a pleading look on his features. Before Ryou could react, the Egyptian jumped on him and hugged him tightly.

"Malik, let go of me. You're going to squeeze me to death!"

"Oh Ryou, please help me. I can't stand it anymore!"

"What's wrong?" He tranquilly asked when Malik finally let go of him.

"It's…It's…"

"It's what?"

"It's that stupid jerk, Marik!" He spoke aloud in abhorrence.

"What about him?" The curious brown-eyed stripling inquired as calm as always.

"Well, you know that he's sleeping in my room because you guys told me…no, more like _forced_ me to let him stay with me so that I can treat his injuries and stuff, right?"

Ryou chuckled when he heard Malik trying to stress the word _'forced'_. "Yeah, so?"

"So, I obediently did what you guys told me to but…"

"But what?"

"When I was treating his bruises and injuries, I had a feeling that he was watching me like a hunting predator while sending hot breaths near my ears and…"

"And?"

Malik gulped and took a deep breath before whispering something in his friend's ear.

"He licked my face as though I was a sweet candy to him."

Silence engulfed the duo but shortly after a minute, Ryou looked at his friend and simply said,

"Is that all?"

Malik shook his head and quickly added,

"No, there's more. During midnight when we were both asleep, I heard something dropping down from the bed and then before I realize it, two hands wrapped around my body and I opened my eyes to see Marik! That idiot was hugging me like he thought I was his cute fluffy teddy bear and wouldn't let me go until this morning!"

He didn't expect his Newcastle friend to laugh after that so he flashed Ryou an infuriated look. "Hey, cut it out will you?"

The albino soon stopped laughing and after taking a few deep breaths, smiled at him with his usual cheerful look.

"That's really sweet, Malik."

"No, it's not! I can't stand him anymore, so can you please tell Kaiba to take his foolish cousin back to his place? I don't wanna stay a whole day with him." The purple-eyed adolescent begged while trying to give him his infamous puppy eyes that seemed not to have any effect on his buddy.

"I'm so sorry Malik but there's nothing I can do."

"Yes, you can! Come on, please…"

"Ah! I suddenly remember that my cookies are nearly done so I'm going to the kitchen and check them out, okay?"

Ryou leisurely walked away but the Egyptian pulled his apron with all his strength and continued to supplicate but to no avail. "Don't worry, Malik. I'm sure Marik isn't such a bad person, he just wants to have fun with you…"

"No, it's not! Please Ryou, please…"

"Sorry, you have to figure it out yourself." Were his last words before he disappeared into the kitchen, leaving his tan-skinned friend behind.

"You're so mean…" Malik spoke with a pout and glared at the kitchen door for a while before he went back to his own tent and tried to solve the problem on his own. He didn't notice Ryou watching him going out from the tent while at the same time, thought dejectedly to himself,

'_I'm sorry Malik.'_

The white-haired youngster thought with an unhappy sigh before he went back to the kitchen.

'_But I understand how you feel about someone doing unpleasant things to you._'

The white-haired boy then ruminating about the event that happened previous night, with Bakura ogling at him with those peculiar eyes during dinner and in the kitchen after dinner, Bakura went in not to help him cleaning dishes, but to gaze at him as though Ryou was his precious untouchable treasure.

'_I wonder why he was staring at me with those strange eyes of his.'_

An hour later, Kaiba told everyone to continue searching for their comrades. However, Ryou suddenly informed them that Joey had a fever so he had to stay and took care of him.

"I assume that infection occurred during the snake's bite but he will fully recover the next morning." Ryou explained before receiving a nod from the tallest man of the group.

"Alright, let's go Bakura."

"Wait, what about me?" Malik wailed and was about to run if Ryou hadn't grabbed his shirt collar and ordered him to stay.

"Malik, you need to stay here and take care of Marik."

"But he's…"

"No, he needs some rest and you're in charge of taking care of him." Ryou retorted before he dragged the sniveling Malik back to their respective tents.

When Kaiba and Bakura were far away from the tents, the brown-eyed stripling gave a mischievous look to his older cousin and said,

"Since there's only two of us, we might as well use our elemental powers to search for them, that'll be quicker."

"No, we shouldn't…"

"Why not?" Bakura interrupted dismally with an annoyed expression on his face.

"If you don't want to, then fine but I'm doing it."

Before Kaiba could protest, the white-haired adolescent speedily flew above the sky and disappeared in a split second.

"That idiot." The brunet grunted before he started to run towards north but a few minutes later, strong winds followed by dark clouds headed towards the forest and without warning, a loud piercing scream reached Kaiba's ears before he felt something hard knocked him off the ground.

"This is bad!" Bakura who was sitting on Kaiba's back exclaimed with panic in his voice.

"Get your ass off my back!" the older cousin shouted in anger before he felt the weigh on him disappeared and stood up to brush off the dirt that stained on his clothes. "What is it?"

"The storm is coming."

That sentence instantly caused the brunet to stop his movements as he quickly replied,

"We better hurry back to our cottage before it's too late."

"Right."

So, the two Elementals went back to their cottage as fast as they could and just when they reached their destination, few drops of rain dripped down from the sky.

"I wonder if the cottage is able to withstand the strong wind." Kaiba whispered more to himself than his cousin but Bakura heard him clear enough so he lay on his wooden bed and spoke confidently,

"Of course it can, I'm sure the storm won't turn out that bad. What can go wrong?"

Nearly two hours later, a doorbell was heard inside Ryou's tent and the owner of the tent ran towards the door to reveal…two drenched teenagers standing on the front door impatiently.

"Oh my, what happen to you guys?"

"Can you let us enter? We're freezing out here!" Bakura sputtered furiously before his younger 'twin' allowed them to enter the room.

Apparently, the storm had gotten so strong that the wind eventually destroyed their cottage and had no choice but to stay in Ryou's and Joey's tents for the time being.

"So, I guess you stay in my tent while Kaiba stay in Joey's." Ryou said to his older 'twin' while watching his two friends wiping their wet faces with their given towels.

Bakura released a disappointed sigh before nodding. "Yeah."

'_And this is only the beginning.'_ Kaiba thought quietly to himself while wondering when the storm will end. _'I wonder what Yami and Yugi are doing now. It must be hard for them since the storm came unexpectedly but I believe Yami will think of something. I'm just worried that he will use his elemental power and reveal our identity.'_

"Kaiba?"

The tallest of the three brought out from his thoughts and promptly answered,

"Yes?"

"Are you thinking about Yugi and Yami?"

The blue-eyed Water Elemental stared at the fretful Ryou for a while before nodding. "Yeah."

The younger white-haired boy looked down whilst allowing his hands to turn into fists just to control his fear. "I'm worried about them too, why did the storm happens at a time like this?"

Ryou was obsessed in his thoughts that he didn't realize his older 'twin' was standing beside him.

"Don't worry so much, I'm sure they'll be just fine. They're not little children anymore." Bakura reassured him, which was _very_ rare for a person like him to say such things. Even Kaiba's stunned eyes proved this point.

Ryou flashed his taller look-alike a grateful smile before replying,

"Thank you, I appreciate that. Let's just hope that they'll be alright until the storm subsides."

Bakura nodded slightly before he slowly made his way to the kitchen. "I'm going to find something to eat."

"I'm coming too." Ryou spoke aloud before he hastily went towards the kitchen as well, leaving Kaiba alone in the living room.

"Hmm, things are starting to get interesting." The brunet mused with a playful smirk on his lips before he heard Ryou's voice complaining to Bakura about taking his chocolate muffins secretly again. Soon after that, he heard a strident thunder not far away from the tent and that caused his peaceful expression replaced to anxiousness.

"This might be the worst storm we've ever encountered."

**Meanwhile, on the other side of the forest…**

"Where are you going, Yami? No, wait…the storm is getting stronger now. No, don't go…Yami!"

**To Be Continued…**

That's the end of **Chapter 8**! I'm sorry if there's nothing special or funny here but that's why I add a cliffhanger! Lol…I hope you enjoy reading this chapter even though it's a little boring but I make it up to it in the next chapter if I get a better idea of course. It seems that my _'plot bunnies'_ are sleeping because I didn't write this story for so long, that's the reason why I couldn't write a better chapter it seems. Forgive me and please _**support**_ me by continue reading this story. I'll _**appreciate**_ if you do! (Smiles)

It looks like our heroes are facing more troubles from time to time, so the word _'obstacles'_ is suitable for this chapter's title, isn't it? What will happen to Yugi and Yami once the storm gets stronger I wonder.

**Faves and Alerts** are welcomed as always! XD And stay tune for **Chapter 9: Like**!

Finally, _**review**_ pretty please? :3


	9. Like

Howdy, folks! What cha' up to? (Why am I suddenly sound like a cowgirl? Lol!) _**Thank you so much**_ for the faves and alerts as well as the wonderful reviews and…oh, I have two new reviewers…cool! X3 Anyways, I decided to update **Chapter 9** as soon as possible since I wanted to finish this story so badly, but then I figure that this story is longer than I thought, it didn't reach its climax yet! XD Still a long way to go until this story reaches its end…(sighs) Right, stop babbling and on to the story shall we? But first,

**Beta: _Natoya_**

**Disclaimer****: **See Chapter 1

_**Keys**_**:**

"Talks"

_'Thoughts'_

**Chapter 9: Like**

**Few minutes later, in Malik's tent…**

"Such a heavy storm." Malik commented before he heard the sound of thunder striking down the forest near his tent. The sounds of raindrops dripping onto the ground soon increased its volume.

"So, the storm has finally arrived." A deeper voice suddenly spoke behind him and Malik spun round to see Marik, his older 'twin', sitting on his bed with his arms crossed in front of his well-built chest.

'_What is he up to now?'_ Thought the younger lavender-eyed stripling. He can't help but feeling curious about what Marik said a while ago.

"You know…unlike Japan or any other country which the storms occur randomly, storms occur every 3 months in this forest." Marik explained while his younger look-alike sat on a chair and listened intently to what he said.

"It can go on for as long as a whole day, 3 days, a week or even…a month, depending on the circumstances."

"What?"

Chills ran down Malik's spine as soon as he heard the words 'a month'.

'_How are we supposed to get back to the city if the storm goes on for as long as a month? And we still haven't found Yugi.' _

Suddenly, a thought swam through his mind and without hesitation, he abruptly asked,

"How did you know all this?"

It was Marik's turn to feel anxious so before Malik got suspicious, he answered straight away,

"Well, erm…my uncle once told me about this…and he's a geologist if you're wondering."

Actually, Marik's uncle was a businessman who was now studying in Australia.

Before Malik could ask any more questions, the gentle sound of music echoed in Malik's dark bedroom. The younger of the two looked at his lilac colored digital watch to realize that he received a call from his white-haired schoolmate.

"It's Ryou." Malik told his older friend before a big bright transparent screen popped out from the watch's small round mirror and soon, an image of the white-haired fellow began to emerge.

"Hey, Malik, Marik. I got a good news and bad news for you two. So which do you want to hear first?"

"The bad news." Malik replied as he felt nervousness slowly overtook both his body and mind.

"Okay, the bad news is…Marik, your tent has been destroyed by the huge strong winds caused from the heavy storm."**  
**

"What?" The pineapple-like haired adolescent exclaimed in disbelief but snapped out from his thoughts when he heard Ryou's tranquil voice.

"The good news is…you get to stay in Malik's tent until the storm subsides." Ryou spoke aloud with a smile on his face.

This time, it was Malik's turn to exclaim in disbelief. _That_ isn't good news!

"What?" Was the only word he could utter as the screen disappeared and the watch was switched back to normal. He stared at his older 'twin' who kept smirking back at him with various evil thoughts in his mind. The younger lavender-eyed youth then gazed at the window beside his desk that showed nothing but tree's swaying movements that were caused by sturdy winds. The raindrops kept dripping down the ground. A minute later, he stared at the wall above him and shouted unexpectedly in despair,

"No way!"

**Before the storm arrived, on the other side of the forest…**

Two tri-colored haired teens walked round the woods with their alerted eyes looking for a way to escape this dangerous forest. However, about 20 minutes later, they both heard a strident thunder not far away from them followed by dark gloomy clouds hovering above them so in that instant, they knew what they should do now.

"We better find a place to take shelter on before the storm arrives." The taller of the two abruptly spoke.

"I agree." Yugi said with an understanding nod.

Just when few drops of rain starting to drip down the ground, Yami saw a huge hollow tree with a massive hole forming below it, like a strange house that was made up entirely of woods.

"Let's stay in that tree before it's too late." The older adolescent said while pointing the tree to his younger look-alike.

Even though the tree somehow looked like a creepy house you usually see in horror movies, Yugi had no choice but to accept Yami's suggestion.

"Okay." Yugi replied as the two teens ran towards the tree and soon, raindrops dripped down the ground followed by intense winds that made the trees sway in different speeds.

"Let's hope that the storm will end soon." Yami said while at the same time, wondering what his cousins were doing at the moment.

"Yeah." Yugi spoke with a distressing sigh before silence took place.

Nearly an hour later, the storm was getting a lot stronger than before and more thunders striking down the forest near their hiding place. Yami then gave Yugi a quick glance before inquiring,

"Are you afraid of the thunder?"

"No." Came a whisper from his smaller companion but something was wrong. Yugi was never this silent so Yami stared at his tri-colored haired 'twin' who sat on a tree-like chair with a miserable expression, his delicate hand unconsciously touching his stomach. That's when Yami realized that they didn't have lunch because they were busy searching for a way to escape this place.

"Yugi"

The said teen looked up.

"I'm going out so you stay here until I come back."

"What?" He couldn't believe his ears. Yami was going out in this heavy storm?

When he saw Yugi's traumatized expression, Yami instantly added,

"Don't worry, I'll be fine." He said with a reassuring smile.

"Where are you going, Yami?"

"I'm going out to look for food. You must be hungry by now."

"You don't have to…"

"It's only for a while." Yami interrupted but Yugi continued to protest.

"You can't go out in such a heavy rain like this, you'll catch a cold!" The younger Newcastle student exclaimed with concern in his voice.

"No I won't. Trust me."

"But…"

"I'll be right back."

As soon as he spoke his last words, the older of the two quickly ran outside while ignoring Yugi's protest.

"No, wait. The storm is getting stronger now!"

Sadly, Yami did not reply and kept on running towards north.

"Don't go, Yami."

Too late because as soon as he spoke those words, Yami was already out of sight so all he could do was sitting on the tree-like chair while ogling at the direction where his friend had disappeared to a few seconds ago.

"Why do you have to put yourself at risk?" Yugi whispered with a deep dismayed sigh. "I just hope you'll be alright and come back here safely."

When Yami was far away from Yugi, he let his elemental power overtook his body as little by little, he could feel his hands getting hotter than before. Without a second thought, he drew a big round circle in the air and a few seconds later; an invisible fire shield was formed around him.

"I'm sorry Seto but I have to do this."

Yami soon felt his wet body getting dry as warm air surrounding him, making him feel energetic again.

"This should keep me warm for a while. Right, let's start finding some food here." The ruby-eyed youth said with a playful grin on his handsome face as he kept on running until he saw trees with various delicious fruits hanging above him.

The reason why Yami did not feel wet was because as soon as the raindrops touched the shield's surface, they quickly evaporated into water vapors. Pretty cool, huh?

**Meanwhile, in Ryou's tent…**

"Alright. I'm going out now. Sorry for bothering you." The taller brunet said while walking towards the door. The white-haired fellow followed him from behind.

"Oh, I don't mind at all so you don't need to apologize." Ryou rapidly answered while waving his hands repeatedly.

"Actually, I don't mind that you stay in here."

"It's alright. I can stay at Wheeler's tent since it's just a few steps away from here and you don't have any extra rooms right? So I don't want to be a bother."

"But…"

"It's okay. Really."

Ryou sighed before nodded whilst at the same time saying,

"Okay, if you say so."

Kaiba opened the door and was about to step outside when he heard Ryou's barely audible voice.

"Erm, Kaiba?"

The ocean-blue eyed adolescent spun round to face him.

"What is it?"

"Well, it's…nevermind." The white-haired teen then looked away as he silently thought to himself,

'_Should I ask him? It's not such a big deal anyway. However, I can't help but feeling curious.'_

Ryou snapped out from his thoughts when he heard the door shut and Kaiba's calm baritone voice.

"What's wrong? It looks like something's troubling you." The older brunet then thought for a moment before speaking aloud,

"Is it about my annoying cousin, Bakura?"

Ryou's surprised expression made Kaiba smirk in triumph.

"So it is."

"Well, yeah…" The white-haired albino answered hesitantly while secretly fidgeting his hands.

"What about him?"

"Erm, well…you see…Bakura has been acting strange lately." Ryou paused for a moment before continuing his speech.

"He keeps…staring at me whenever I go or whatever I do."

"When did that happen?"

That question made Ryou looked up immediately.

"Two days ago, since the day we went to search for Yugi and Yami…we went separate ways and when we were both searching in the **West Wing**, I can feel Bakura watching me like he thought I was his prey."

Kaiba then put his hand on his chin and pretended to think seriously.

"That long huh?" He said shortly, the smirk returning. Ryou was confused by the smirk while at the same time he shuddered, thinking.

"Did you remember about what I told you before, that Bakura is a greedy, evil, heartless and selfish little 'thief'?"

"Yeah, I remembered." The white-haired youth said, an anime sweatdrop falling from his head.

"Well, since he is a 'thief' himself, he of course behaves like one."

"What do you mean?" Ryou asked with a puzzled expression displayed on his face.

"When a thief likes something, he will do anything to get what he wants. First, he will look at his _'precious thing'_ for a long time. Then, he'll make his move to steal that _'precious thing'_ in a sneaky way and claim that _'precious thing'_ as his. The longer he stares at that _'precious thing'_, the more he wants to possess it."

Ryou blushed when he heard the word _'likes'_ but trembled in fright when he heard the words _'steal'_, _'claim' _and_ 'possess'_. So he was now Bakura's newest target?

The albino gulped before timidly questioning,

"Wh…What will he do to claim that _'precious thing' _as his?"

"That…you have to figure it out yourself." Kaiba answered with another mysterious smirk.

"I guess I should get going."

The door was opened once again.

"Thank you."

Kaiba nodded before he ran towards Joey's tent as fast as he could. Ryou later closed the door and sighed heavily to himself.

'_I guess I have to solve this problem on my own.'_

Just then, Kaiba's words echoed in his mind like a recording tape.

'…_When a thief likes something, he will do anything to get what he wants.'_

'…_The longer he stares at that 'precious thing', the more he wants to possess it.'_

'_No way, he doesn't feel that way towards me!'_ Ryou thought inwardly while at the same time, blushing madly and shivering fearfully.

'_But what if he is?'_

The white-haired adolescent then walked towards the kitchen and when he opened the kitchen door, a pair of chocolate-brown eyes gazing back at him with his hands reaching for something in the fridge – a juicy delicate roasted chicken with honey sour sauce around it that was yet to be cooked.

"What are you doing?" Ryou asked threateningly while his anxiousness quickly turned to fury.

"I'm hungry." Came a simple response from his older acquaintance. He looked like a hungry 7-year-old urchin who begged for his mother to cook something for him and Ryou couldn't help but smiled warmly at him as his previous thoughts vanished in a flash.

"Okay, I'll cook something for lunch."

Bakura moved aside and watched his younger friend preparing for lunch. While Ryou was cutting the carrots into slices, Bakura stood beside him while sending hot breaths near his face that caused Ryou to blush at the sudden closeness.

"Bakura, can you wait in the living room? You're bothering me…"

Ryou paused when he saw a "You-better-not-get-in-my-bad-side" glare from his taller look-alike before sighing heavily to himself and continued to do his work.

'_How do I make him stop staring at me like that?'_ Ryou thought while turning on the fire on the cooker.

_'I couldn't bring myself to tell him this…'_

Ryou was so distracted in his thoughts that he didn't realize he was turning on the fire at the highest volume. He then felt something hot near his hands and out of the sudden; the fire from the cooker was getting bigger and eventually burnt the curtains that were near to the cooker.

"Oh no, what have I done?" The Newcastle student screamed with horror and fear mixed in his eyes.

"Bakura, get the…"

Ryou's speech was cut off shortly when he felt water splashed all over him and the cooker. The fire extinguished immediately, but the curtains were already half burnt and the smell of something burning instantly encircled the kitchen.

"Thanks." The younger of the two said in a dull tone while ogling at Bakura who was holding a big bucket of water…just how did he get that full bucket of water _that_ quick Ryou wondered.

He soon wiped his wet face with a soft white towel found near the kitchen door while silently cursed himself for making such a silly mistake.

_'Why am I reacting like this? This isn't the real me. I usually think rationally and won't let anything, even a small matter, interrupt my daily activities.'_

Ryou watched his older 'twin' putting the bucket back to its rightful place while wiping the floor with a spare clean towel.

_'I really should tell him even if he'll get mad at me for saying that to him.'_

"Hey!"

Ryou brought out from his thoughts as soon as Bakura's stern voice reached his ears.

"Are you going to stand there and do nothing?"

"Oh, sorry." Ryou apologized at once as he felt his cheeks burning in shame. He quickly retrieved more towels for Bakura and that's when he saw his right hand's fingers getting redder than before.

"Must be caused by the fire." Ryou whispered while wondering why he didn't notice this earlier but startled when a cold hand grabbed his injured ones as Bakura dragged him to the living room and ordered him to stay.

"Where are you going?" The smaller of the two inquired curiously, but Bakura ignored him as he went towards the storeroom to get a small, rectangular white box – the first aid kit.

As soon as the spikier white-haired teen sat down the sofa, he swiftly opened the kit and grabbed a small bottle with labels and instructions around it.

"I can do it myself." Ryou said almost immediately, but Bakura once again ignored him while applying the yellow liquid on his injured fingers, which made the smaller of the two winces in pain.

Silence engulfed the duo, so Ryou could only watched his older companion treated his fingers with care. When Bakura had done his work, Ryou looked at his fingers that had plasters pasted around them before smiling and said,

"Thank you."

The taller stripling nodded slightly before putting the kit back into the storeroom. Ryou was about to enter the kitchen when a deeper voice spoke without warning,

"You're not going to cook, are you?"

Ryou spun round to face Bakura's serious expression. He then sighed and replied,

"Well, I'm the only one here who can cook so if I don't do it, then who else can?"

Bakura shook his head in disagreement as he stepped ahead of him and said,

"You can't possibly cook, not when your hands are injured." He then walked towards the cooker and slowly turned on the fire.

"I'll do it." The Air Elemental whispered but Ryou could hear him clear enough as his eyes expanded in a split second.

"You can cook? Seriously?"

"No." Came an honest answer from his older pal.

"That's why you have to teach me."

Ryou couldn't believe his ears. The guy who was usually treating him coldly was now asking for his help on cooking. A warm, genuine smile crept up his angelic face as he stood beside Bakura and said softly,

"Thank you."

"Whatever." Was the only word spoken by the taller teen.

_'If I weren't this hungry, I wouldn't want to offer my help. I hate doing this job.'_

Soon, they worked together on preparing their lunch. Bakura followed Ryou's instructions carefully but of course, having his first time cooking was really tough for him and so he did a lot of mistakes.

"No Bakura, you have to put some oil first before putting the garlic into the wok."

"Bakura, you put too much salt in it!"

"No no Bakura, you shouldn't cut the celery that way. Here, let me show you."

Even though Bakura had made so many mistakes and did a lot of silly moves, Ryou patiently taught him and they soon had fun cooking together. Ryou smiled as he watched Bakura tried his hardest in cooking tomato pasta.

'_I guess I shouldn't worry about that now, I'll ask him later.'_ Was Ryou's last thought before he laughed at Bakura's clumsy action as he tried to flip the pancake with a spatula but it accidentally landed on the older teen's head.

**To Be Continued…**

Phew, **Chapter 9 **has finally reached its end! Did you enjoy reading this chapter so far? I hope you do because I tried my hardest to write this chapter and this time, I add some **Tendershipping** moments in it. I felt pity for both Bakura and Ryou for not getting the spotlight and so, I decided to add more of them here.

Sorry that Joey isn't in this chapter, he had to take a break for now but don't worry, he'll be in the next chapter definitely. (Smiles)

**Faves and Alerts** are welcomed! Haha…XD and stay tune for **Chapter 10: Delicacy**!

I hope I get _**more reviews**_ this time! :3


	10. Delicacy

All right, **Chapter 10**'s here everybody and as always, I hope you enjoy reading this chapter! (Smiles cheerfully) I figure that this story will definitely reaches _**more than 20 chapters**_ but not sure if it'll be more than 30 or not…(sweat drop) again, _**thanks so much for the wonderful faves and alerts**_, I really appreciate that! :3 So without further delay, here's **Chapter 10** but first…

**Beta: _Natoya_**

**Disclaimer****:** See Chapter 1

_**Keys**_**:**

"Talks"

_'Thoughts'_

**~Flashbacks~**

**Chapter 10: Delicacy**

**Meanwhile, in Joey's tent…**

"What a heavy storm out there." Commented a man with cold blue eyes who slammed the door behind him while letting the water on his body dripped down to the floor.

"I wonder what Yami is doing now?" Kaiba whispered while grabbing a spare towel that was hanging near the cabinet. "Well, at least that mutt isn't here."

As soon as he spoke his last word, a luminous light suddenly surrounded the pitch-black living room, and Kaiba spun round to see a worn-out teen that was none other than his annoying enemy, Joey Wheeler.

"Huh? Kaiba? What are you doing here?" The honey-brown eyed adolescent drawled before yawning.

"I should be asking you the same thing." The brunet said sternly, feeling irritated that Joey wasn't in Ryou's tent.

"Ryou said that I'm feeling better so he's allowing me to go back to my own tent." The younger of the two said with a bright smile as he stretched his tired arms as far as he could. "So, what's up with you? Why are you here? I thought you hated me so much that you wouldn't even want to take one step into my tent."

Although Joey's bitter words made Kaiba's resentment increased rapidly, it was the truth.

"I wouldn't _ever_ want to come here if it wasn't because of the storm."

"Storm?" Joey repeated while confusion and curiosity flashed in his eyes.

"Yes…apparently, the storm has gotten so strong that those huge winds destroyed our tent. Therefore, we had no choice but to stay in you and your friend's tents for the time being."

"What? Seriously?" Exclaimed the Newcastle student as he wondered if his tent could withstand the strong winds as well.

A nod from the brunet was the only response Joey got.

"I guess it can't be helped." Joey said whilst releasing a frustrated sigh. "I just hope that the storm will end soon."

Then, the energetic honey-brown eyed fellow went into the kitchen to get some food for lunch while Kaiba sat on the sofa before he gazed at the ceiling on top of him.

'_Why in the world am I stuck in this place?'_

Out of a sudden, a piercing scream reached his alerted ears and without a second thought, Kaiba dashed into the kitchen to realize that Joey was ogling at the fridge with a flabbergasted expression.

"What's wrong?"

"Th…the…fridge is…."

Kaiba looked at where Joey was pointing at but all he could see in the fridge was…nothing.

"There's nothing in the fridge…"

"That's the problem! How I am supposed to have lunch if I have nothing to eat?" Joey sputtered while at the same time, scratching his head in aggravation as he felt like wanting to bang his own head on the wall.

"What happen to all the food in the fridge?" Kaiba asked curiously.

That sentence instantly made Joey realized something.

"Oh, now I remembered! When I came back here last night, I was feeling very hungry and without thinking, I ate everything in the fridge. At that time, I was feeling very sleepy due to the medicine effect so I don't even know what I'm doing. Argh, I'm so stupid!" The shorter of the two whimpered as he kept on shouting and whining for being so clumsy.

"Can you just shut up, mutt? Your whining annoys me." Kaiba retorted with detestation in his eyes.

"I can't help it, I'm feeling so darn hungry now!" Joey snapped with that similar infuriated look displayed on his face.

"Do you have anything, _anything_ at all in your kitchen?"

Joey thought for a moment before calmly replying, "Well…I guess I do have something in the cabinet."

He then flitted towards the kitchen cabinet and opened it to reveal some packages of noodles, rice, raw vegetables and fruits.

"Everything's in there, but there's no meat." Joey whined heartbrokenly. "And what's worse, I can't cook!"

"But I can."

Those three words made Joey swung round to face Kaiba who stared back at him with a cool, composed look on his features.

"What did you just say?"

"Are you deaf, mutt? I say I can cook!"

Kaiba, however, didn't expected Joey to stifle laughter by covering his mouth, which made the blue-eyed adolescent grit his teeth in anger.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing, I just never expected a person like you could do the cooking." The younger teen spoke with a cheery grin.

"You don't believe me? Then, I'll prove it to you." The brunet then grabbed all the stuff from the kitchen cabinet and placed them onto the kitchen table.

"Alright, tell me what you want." Kaiba abruptly spoke aloud to Joey who was slightly taken aback by his words.

"Is this a challenge?"

"Yes. Since you don't believe me, I will have to show you what I'm capable of." The Water Elemental said with a sure-to-be-victor smirk on his handsome face.

"Fine, I accept your challenge." The Newcastle student said, also smirking. "The loser will have to listen to what the winner says three days from now on."

"Deal."

**Meanwhile, in Malik's tent…**

"I'm getting hungry now." Moaned a lavender-eyed youth as he paced around the room with a troubled expression written on his face.

"Then why don't you find something to eat in the kitchen?" Asked his look-alike, Marik.

"There's nothing left in the kitchen except those stuff that needs to be cooked. And you know that I can't cook."

"Oh…" Was the only word Marik uttered to his friend.

"Ryou usually prepares all the food for me but since I can't go to his place because of that stupid storm, I will have to figure things out myself." Malik explained whilst releasing a saddened sigh.

"What should I do now?"

"Well, you can't just stand there and do nothing, that's for sure." The pineapple-head fellow said before he stood up from his chair and walked down the stairs. Malik later followed him from behind.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to the kitchen to see if there's anything else we can eat that doesn't need to be cooked."

When they reached their destination, the duo searched for food in both the kitchen cabinet and the fridge but all they could find were just raw vegetables and small packets of noodles.

"This is tougher than I thought." Marik whispered but Malik heard him clear enough so he nodded in agreement.

"So, what now?"

Marik grinned mischievously as he walked towards the cooker and turned on the fire.

"We'll have to cook ourselves."

"But we…"

"Do you have a better idea?"

Malik stayed silent for a while before sadly answering,

"No."

"Then, let's get started." Marik said in a singsong voice while at the same time putting some garlic into the wok along with some oil. He had seen some ladies cooking before in commercials and short TV programs back when he and his cousins were living in the city, so he thought he should do the same.

Little did they know that chaos will happen in the kitchen really soon.

**Meanwhile, on the other side of the forest…**

"What's taking him so long?" A tri-colored haired boy wondered as he felt his palpitation increased little by little.

"I wonder if he's alright…"

His speech was cut off shortly when he saw a human shadow emerged right in front of him and soon, an image of a familiar person was seen carrying various fruits in his arms.

"It's Yami!" Yugi exclaimed in delight as he stood up immediately while waiting for his friend to arrive.

As soon as Yami reached his destination, Yugi, without thnking, hugged him tightly with a relieved smile on his cherubic face.

"Thank goodness, you're safe."

Yugi's actions made Yami blush with confusion in his eyes but soon a smile became visible on his lips before he spoke aloud,

"Yes, I am. Thank you for your concern."

When Yugi heard Yami's words, he realized what he was doing so he quickly let go and looked away in embarrassment.

"Erm, it's nothing."

The ruby-eyed stripling smiled once again before carefully putting the fruits onto the ground.

"By the way, Yugi. I have something for you."

"Huh?"

Yami then showed his companion a lifeless chicken.

"We'll have roasted chicken for the night."

"That's great." Yugi said while at the same time, thinking to himself.

'_So is that the reason why Yami took so long to return? Just to look for a chicken?'_

The smaller of the two then watched Yami pick an apple from the ground, and he gave it to Yugi who gladly took it.

'_I'm not sure if I'm imagining things or not, but somehow I feel Yami's body being unusually hot.'_

"Is something bothering you?"

Yugi snapped out from his thoughts when he saw Yami staring back at him with a worried expression painted on his features.

"Oh, it's nothing really." Yugi said while waving his hands in defense.

"If you say so…"

The Fire Elemental then leaned on the tree-like wall while at the same moment, thinking silently to himself.

_'It's happening again…I wonder why I have this feeling when Yugi gets so close to me…the feeling of my body getting burned…'_

That's when he remembered something important a scientist had told him back when he and his cousins were living in the city.

**~Flashback~**

"**What did you mean by that?" a boy with chocolate brown eyes asked sternly to the scientist that stood on a corner to the right.**

"**I've told you, your elemental powers are also affected by your emotions. So you should be careful and control your emotions at all times or else your powers will run wild and might end up hurting someone like what you did in the laboratory."**

"**What's going on during the lab?" a deep, baritone voice questioned inquisitively and in that instant, the door opened wide as two guys walked towards them with curiosity written on their faces. They were now in the scientist's laboratory.**

"**Hey, Kaiba, Marik. We're just talking about what Bakura did in the lab during the morning. Some students in his class said bad things to him and Bakura got angry eventually so his powers were released…creating a tornado in the lab but luckily, I was with him so I managed to stop him from causing any more damage…" Yami explained but after that, he thought wordlessly to himself with an inward sigh.**

_'…**However, in the end, he broke almost all the expensive chemicals and apparatus in the lab. How am I supposed to tell this to his aunt?'**_

"**Seriously?" Kaiba finally spoke after a full minute of silence; shock was clearly shown in his blue eyes.**

"**That's why I said this before, you really need to learn how to control your powers efficiently, especially your emotions." The oldest of the group said with a disappointed sigh while crossing his arms in front of his chest.**

"**I…don't quite understand this concept." Marik admitted, being confused as always.**

**The scientist sighed once again before answering,**

"**Alright, it's something like this…for example, Fire Elemental like Yami…"**

**The speaker then took a glance at Yami who's ogling back at him when he heard his name being mentioned earlier.**

"**If you blush around someone you like, your body will of course start getting hot like you're having a fever but when you reached the state when you feel your body burning like fire surrounds you, then it means…"**

"**It means what?" Yami promptly asked, desperately wanting to know the answer.**

"**It means that you fell in love with that special someone."**

**~Flashback Ended~**

'_No way, that can't be happening.'_

Yami was obviously surprised when he found out the reason but he refused to believe in the end.

_'No, I can't be in love with him. It's only been 5 days since the first day I saw him, it has to be something else that makes me getting nervous when he's around.'_

"Yami?"

The said teen quickly brought out from his thoughts before he swung round to face Yugi who was sitting on a tree-like bed with concern in his eyes.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Just thinking, that's all."

"Okay…" Was the only word he could utter before he felt drowsiness slowly taking over his body and mind.

"I guess you must be getting sleepy. You should get some rest." Yami said with a pleasant smile as he saw Yugi yawning cutely. Wait a minute, cute? Where did that thought came from? Yami wondered.

"Yeah, it must've been the cold weather caused by the storm."

"I guess so…"

Sooner or later the smaller of the two fell asleep, and Yami couldn't help but smile when he saw Yugi's expression.

_'He looks pretty cute when he's sleeping and cuddled up on the bed, wait a sec…what am I thinking?'_

The ruby-eyed youth swiftly shook his head in hope to get rid of that thought before he climbed up the tree-like stairs and glanced around the unfamiliar tree-like room.

"I suppose I should stay here until the storm subsides." Yami whispered with a perturbed sigh while watching the rain dripping down from the sky through a small hole-like window.

"I wonder if there's anyone who lives here? It seems like a secret private house or some sort…but it doesn't look like a man made tree to me."

The taller tri-colored haired boy then touched the tree's surface while strolling around the small, narrow room before he stumbled into something he hadn't seen for so long.

"Is that…a telescope?"

**A few hours later, in Ryou's tent…**

"What's wrong, Bakura? You seem awfully gloomy." The shorter white-haired adolescent questioned, earning a sigh from his older companion.

"Don't you know that it's almost time for dinner?"

That sentence made Ryou realize what Bakura was exasperating about.

"Oh, I see…and I thought you had fun cooking during the afternoon."

"Of course not! What makes you think that way?" Bakura retorted as soon as he heard Ryou's comment.

"But since your fingers are injured, I guess I have no choice but to do it _again_, right?"

Before Ryou could say anything, Bakura stood up from the sofa and without thinking, he walked towards the kitchen and he was about to open the kitchen door when Ryou's next speech made him stopped his movements immediately.

"Actually, you don't have to cook because I have instant noodles somewhere in my kitchen cabinet."

"What?" The older teen was obviously traumatized and furious at the same time. "Why didn't you tell me this earlier?"

"Well, I've just remembered that I have them in my kitchen _after_ we had lunch together. I'm really sorry Bakura." It's because Ryou had so many thoughts in his mind that he didn't remember the fact that he had some instant noodles in his kitchen.

Anger started to 'boil' in Bakura's mind as he gave a deathly I'm-going-to-kill-you glare to his partner who on the other hand, was laughing nervously with sweat drops trickled down his cheeks like raindrops.

_'I'm in deep trouble now.'_

**Meanwhile, in Malik's tent…**

"So, what should we do for dinner?"

As soon as the older of the two spoke his last word, Malik instantly gave him a glare that would positively sent him to hell.

Apparently, when they were both preparing lunch in the kitchen, Marik was trying to open a package of flour but when he did, all the flour poured out and some of them entered his eyes so as the result, he screamed while running round the kitchen in circles. He then accidentally pushed Malik who was frying some noodles and later, fortuitously turned the fire to the highest volume.

Just when Marik managed to open his painful eyes, Malik has gone out of the kitchen to search for the fire extinguisher. However, when the younger lavender-eyed teen reentered the kitchen, the Earth Elemental has thrown some oil onto the cooker which made matters worse because not only had the fire gotten stronger, it caused so much damage to the kitchen that in the end, all the curtains and some cooking appliances were burnt and destroyed.

"Well?" Marik inquired softly but impatiently.

After two minutes of silence, his younger look-alike stood up from the sofa and walked towards the kitchen, but he shot another deathly glare to his so-called friend when Marik stood up and tempted to follow him.

"Sit there and don't move!" Malik shouted in a demanding tone while pointing a finger at Marik who held a flabbergasted expression, but later obeyed his order as he could only watch his younger 'twin' entered the kitchen alone.

"What have I done?" Marik whispered in despondency whilst unconsciously grasped his hair with both hands.

"I'm just nothing but trouble."

Suddenly, he felt something thrown onto his lap and when he realized what it was, the lilac-eyed stripling looked up to see Malik who gazed back at him with that same stern look.

"We're having _these_ for dinner?"

"Stop complaining, you should be grateful that you have at least something to eat. Whose fault is it that made us both having nothing but _these_ for dinner?"

Marik looked at the food on his lap, then to his shorter look-alike, then back to the food before he released a miserable sigh and ate a cold piece of bread wretchedly.

'_Why am I living in such a horrible life?'_

**Meanwhile, in Joey's tent…**

"Why am I the one who's cleaning the dishes?" Joey spoke furiously before he took a glance at the brunet who smirked proudly at him. They had just finished their dinner and if you're wondering, yes…Kaiba's the one doing the cooking.

"Because you lost the bet and from now on, you will listen to everything I say."

"You have to remember that it's only for 3 days."

"Of course."

The honey-brown eyed teen groaned in response when he heard Kaiba's triumphant voice. He shouldn't have agreed to this deal in the first place but then again, the person who willingly accepted the challenge was none other than Joey himself.

'_I have to admit, Kaiba's cooking skill is no doubt amazing.'_ The Newcastle student thought with a deep, inward sigh.

'_But the thought of me always losing to him really bugs me._'

Joey snapped out from his thoughts when he heard Kaiba's call from the living room.

"Hey, are you done cleaning the dishes? You still have lots of work to do!"

After hearing those words, Joey had to resist an urge to break something in the kitchen.

**Meanwhile, on the other side of the forest…**

Yugi woke up to realize that it was already nighttime and he couldn't help but wonder how long he had slept since that afternoon. Before Yugi could think any further, a familiar voice followed by sounds of footsteps drawing close to him reached his ears.

"So, you're finally awake, Yugi." The ruby-eyed stripling spoke cheerfully with a charming smile plastered on his face.

"Yeah, I guess I'm getting really tired due to the cold atmosphere." The younger star-shaped haired boy replied. He then looked up to see raindrops that kept falling down to the ground.

"So, the storm hasn't stopped, huh?"

"It seems to be so." Yami said with a nod but then he remembered something important so without further delay, he speedily said,

"Hey, Yugi."

The said teen swung round to face him.

"Yeah?"

"I think I found a way to escape this place."

**To Be Continued…**

That's the end of **Chapter 10**! I'm writing this chapter longer than the previous one so I hope you enjoy reading this chapter as much as I do. So, now you know how and why Yami had that _'temperature problem'_, it's all because of his emotions that brings great effect to his elemental powers but _**different elemental powers have different effects**_ so I wonder how Kaiba, Bakura and Marik react when they fall in love…(laughs evilly).

Things are getting _**interesting**_ now but I'm sorry if I make things a bit _too_ fast forward…(sweat drop) Anyways, Yami and Yugi are going to escape the forest and meet up with their friends soon so let's hope they're both safe throughout their journey…:3

**Faves** and **Alerts** are always, always welcomed! And if you have any questions regarding this story, feel free to **leave a comment **or** PM me**.

Stay tune for **Chapter 11: Path**!

Last but not least, **review**** pretty please**! XD


	11. Path

Two new reviewers, hurray! (Throws confetti) Keep those reviews coming everyone; it'll make me happy if you do! X3 Anyways, **thank you so much for the nice faves and alerts**. Without you all, the story wouldn't be this popular so once again, I humbly thank you for your never-ending support! (Bows) Without further ado, here's **Chapter 11** but first…

**Important Note****:** I travel to **Zhang Jia Jie, China** with my family from _**22th December**_ until _**30th December**_ so during that time, I wouldn't be able to update anything, sorry for the inconvenience. By the way, _**Merry Christmas**_ and _**Happy New Year**_ everyone! XD

**Beta****: **_**Natoya**_

**Disclaimer****: **See Chapter 1

_**Keys**_**:**

"Talks"

'_Thoughts'_

**Chapter 11: Path**

**Three days since the storm arrived, after lunch in Joey's tent…**

'_I can't believe it's still raining outside.'_ A boy with honey-brown eyes mused with a depressed sigh as his irises fixed on the view outside the window. It showed nothing but dark gloomy clouds that made the forest appeared as dim as nighttime, and the raindrops that continued falling down from the sky, producing a calm and harmonious melody in every corner.

Joey then grabbed a soft, clean towel near the kitchen cabinet and wiped his large, wet hands. _'I wonder what Yugi is doing now. I'm worried about him.'_

Unexpectedly the sound of something breaking reached his ears, so without a second thought, he dashed towards the source of that sound. When he reached his destination, a pair of blue eyes as calm as the ocean stared back at him with a hand holding a thick brown book while the other was about to take a tiny, golden bell that rested on a small wooden table.

"Ah, good timing." The taller of the two, Kaiba spoke tranquilly as always. "You know what you should do now, right?"

As predicted, Joey was absolutely infuriated not only because of what he said, but also his actions, his calm expression as if nothing happened; his…everything about him was driving him nuts!

"You…" Joey trailed off as his anger reached the highest, most dangerous level, and his hands unconsciously clenched into fists.

The brunet sighed before he slowly but carefully closed the book and placed it onto the table. "What now?"

"Do you know what you've just done? You broke my cup!" Joey spat as loud as possible as he continued to glare at his so-called friend.

Kaiba took a glance at the broken blue glass-made cup with coffee spilled all over the floor before sighing and replying,

"Okay fine, I'm sorry that I broke your _precious_ cup. So, can you clean the floor now?"

That remark alone certainly made Joey's mind explode.

"Don't you think you've gone a little overboard? You gave me _**SO**_ many chores ever since that day we made a bet to each other. You told me to clean the dishes, wipe the floor, iron the clothes…" the Newcastle student sputtered as he counted how many chores he have done so far.

"…Clean the bathroom, vacuuming, and doing massaging treatments especially that foot massage I hate to do the most!" The blond haired adolescent said before shuddering when an image of him massaging Kaiba's stinky feet the previous night entered his mind.

"And you should know that this is _**my**_ tent, not yours!"

"That's what you're supposed to do as a _loyal_ servant, so nothing's wrong with that and besides…" The Water Elemental paused for a moment before he resumed his speech.

"Your tent looks like you left there for decades. When I first entered your tent, there's an awful smell in one of your bathrooms and it's so dusty in every room I entered. Not to mention both your study room and your bedroom are messy with things all over the floor and then I noticed something even more disgusting, how long have you left those sickening, smelly old socks in your room?"

Joey's face was obviously as red as a tomato as he felt himself slowly shrink with each word Kaiba said. This is getting really embarrassing.

"W…well…I never did all those house chores before in my life, usually it's my sister who did those chores so…"

"…So you should thank me for ordering you to do this because sooner or later, you will have to learn how to do it." Kaiba completed as he smirked in triumph when Joey for the first time, unable to snap him back.

"But that doesn't mean you can…"

A tingling sound was heard as Joey's gaze switched from Kaiba's smug look to his hand that was holding a shiny golden bell.

"Okay, enough talking. You still have lots of work to do so for now, clean the floor and then, massage my back." The sapphire-eyed stripling ordered as he stretched his tired long arms since he had been sitting there for quite a long time and now, his back was sore.

The younger of the two grumbled in response before he walked down the stairs to get a full bucket of water and a mop, at the same time cursing himself for not doing the house chores and therefore, making him feel embarrassed by Kaiba's words.

As soon as the honey-brown eyed teen entered Kaiba's bedroom, the brunet was nowhere in sight.

"Hmm…maybe he went into the bathroom." Joey whispered to himself before he shrugged his shoulders and started cleaning the floor.

More than 10 minutes later, Kaiba entered the room with a new cup in his hand but he knitted his eyebrows straight away when he saw Joey who was still busily wiping the floor with a mop swishing from left to right.

"You still haven't finished cleaning?"

Joey looked up to see his blue-eyed companion who slowly placed the cup onto the table. "I'm still not used to do this kind of work you know."

However, as soon as he spoke his last word, he tripped due to the slippery floor and he was about to fall when Kaiba caught his arm in time but he too, was falling with Joey landed on the bed followed by Kaiba settling on top of him.

"Ouch, that really hurts!" Exclaimed Joey before he try to stand up but couldn't as he felt something pressing on top of him.

"Ugh." Kaiba muttered as he felt something smooth pressing against his cheek and when he opened his eyes, the brunet realized that his face was pressing against Joey's cheek so, his arms quickly straightened as he could only stared at Joey's flushed expression. They could feel their breaths tickling each other's face.

A few seconds had passed, then minutes, and when it felt like hours had passed by, Kaiba was the first to snap out from his thoughts as he swiftly stood up with Joey gradually standing up as well.

"I'm…going to the living room." Were his last words before he picked up both the bucket and the mop and in a blink of an eye, he was no longer in sight but Kaiba could clearly see the blush that stained on Joey's cheeks before he left the room.

"What just happened?" The brunet grunted whilst placing a hand on his forehead but soon, he felt something moving on his hand and when he looked at it, his ocean blue eyes widened in shock with confusion glinted in his eyes.

"What…what is this?" Was all he could say as he kept ogling at the skin on his hands, which oddly boiled with bubbles forming and later producing some 'pop' sounds.

**Meanwhile, during midnight in Malik's tent…**

A guy was seen turning and tossing the blanket from the left to right but eventually, sat up with a frustrated look displayed on his tan-skinned face.

"Why can't I get to sleep like I normally do?" The pineapple-haired guy spoke aloud with irritation in his voice. His lavender eyes then moved to the direction where moonlight shone into his bedroom through a window and that's when he realized something.

"The storm has finally stopped." Marik whispered to himself as soon, a bright smile formed on his lips and the next thing he did was to go to Malik's bedroom, wanting to tell him the good news.

However, when he was about to knock the door, muttering and screams were heard in Malik's bedroom.

"What's going on in there?" He asked curiously so without thinking, he opened the door and ran towards Malik who kept mumbling some words with terrified expression written on his sweaty face.

"No…don't…don't do this to me…" Malik stammered with his head turning from left to right, sweat continued to trickle down his cheeks.

"Hey, Malik…what happened to you?" Marik spoke audibly; worry was evident in his voice but his look-alike didn't seem to hear him as he kept on murmuring with that same frightening look on his features.

"Please…don't force me to…let go of me…no…please STOP!"

That was the moment Malik's eyes snapped open as he quickly sat up and breathed harshly.

"Are you okay?"

Those three words made Malik's gaze focused on his taller look-alike whose hand slowly rubbing Malik's back.

"Yeah…" The younger of the two whispered before he calmed himself down and allowed Marik to sit beside him.

Silence engulfed the duo as Malik's palpitation gradually returned back to normal and before Marik could do anything, the Newcastle student spoke loud enough for his taller friend to hear.

"I had a nightmare…"

Marik looked up to see Malik's miserable expression; it was the first time he saw his smaller 'twin' reacting like this.

"I had this same nightmare ever since my father passed away but I stopped having it when I entered high school because that's when I met Yugi and the others. I had such a fun time when they're around so the horrible nightmare that shows events I experienced during my childhood days vanished in a flash but…"

Malik then swung round to face Marik with worried expression written all over his face. "This nightmare…it happened again and I don't know what to do to get rid of it."

Marik felt like his heart was stabbed painfully with a sharp knife when he saw Malik covering his face with his hands. _'I wonder what horrible events he had gone through when he was young?'_

"Don't worry about it." The Earth Elemental reassured as he gave Malik's shoulder a comforting pat. "Just forget it and go to sleep, okay? Everything will be fine tomorrow morning."

Marik's words and warm smile made the smaller lavender-eyed teen smiled as well. "Thank you, Marik."

The older lilac-eyed boy nodded before he stood up and was about to walk towards the door when a cold, thin hand grabbed his right wrist to stop his movements. He then spun round to see Malik whose face displaying a troubled expression. "What is it?"

"Erm…" Malik whispered hesitantly before he forces his voice to come out from his mouth. "Can you stay here just for tonight?"

Marik was taken aback by Malik's sudden request but soon, a smile graced on his lips as he slowly nodded before replying,

"Of course, I'll sleep on the sofa over there."

Malik took a glance at the beige-colored sofa that was just two inches away from his bed before he nodded in agreement and gave his friend a grateful smile. "Okay."

Thus, the two tan-skinned teenagers spent the night sleeping in Malik's room but neither of the two knew that they were both smiling in their slumber throughout the whole night.

**The next day morning, on the other side of the forest…**

A young boy groaned in exasperation when he heard birds chirping blissfully and sunlight shone onto his face right through a small hole on the tree-like wall. He then stirred in his tree-like bed just to block the sunlight from reaching his eyes.

'_How the heck does the sun shines so bright?'_ Yami thought lazily and that was the moment he realized something. He promptly sat up and rubbed his sleepy eyes before he tardily opened them and the next thing he knew, a big joyful smile plastered on his handsome face as without thinking, he quickly walked down the stairs and called out to his little companion.

"Hey, Yugi!" The taller tri-colored haired adolescent yelled with enthusiasm glowed in his eyes but when he reached his destination, he found himself staring at Yugi's cute but amusing sleeping form. Although Yami wanted to watch his younger friend sleeping a little longer, he didn't want to waste time so he walked closer to Yugi's tree-like bed and shook Yugi's shoulders gently.

"Wake up, sleepy head. It's time to get up." Yami's soothing voice managed to make Yugi stir in his bed.

"It's too early…" Moaned the younger Newcastle student but Yami continued to shake Yugi's shoulders.

"The storm has finally stopped now so we should get going."

That sentence instantly caused Yugi to sit up abruptly with large amethyst eyes glimmering in shock while Yami on the other hand, was surprised to see him getting up without warning.

"Okay, I'm awake." Yugi said with that same dumbfounded expression painted on his features.

Yami chuckled lightly after seeing Yugi's humorous actions before he nodded and answered,

"That's good, let's have breakfast together before we leave, alright?"

Yugi gave his ruby-eyed pal a cheerful smile before he nodded as well. "Sure."

As soon as they had a nice breakfast and an enjoyable chat together, the two star-shaped haired duo started their journey and walked towards the small narrow path that Yami found in the telescope 3 days ago. Why he was sure that this path could lead them back to their destination was because he remembered Bakura had once told him and his cousins that this road connected between the **West Wing** and this part of the forest a few years ago.

"Are you sure that this is the right way to get back to our tents?" The smaller of the two inquired with anxiousness sparkling in his purple eyes as he looked around the unfamiliar place.

"Yes, I'm sure." The ruby-eyed adolescent spoke confidently as he took a peek at his little comrade whose body was trembling greatly. Without saying a word, he held Yugi's shivering hand and squeezed it gently.

"Yami?" Yugi looked up with an astounded expression painted on his features while at the same time, blushing madly.

The said teen gave him a warm, pleasant smile before answering,

"Stay close to me so that you wouldn't get lost."

"Oh…okay…" Yugi mumbled but he kept looking at Yami's and his own intertwined hands. A minute later, he shook his head mentally before scolding himself and cogitated,

'_Why am I reacting like this? Get over yourself, Yugi!'_

**Meanwhile, in Joey's tent…**

Everyone had gathered around the living room and discussed their next plan on searching for their two companions.

"Now that the storm had finally stopped, we can continue to search for Yami and Yugi. It has been 5 days since we last saw them so we better not waste time and find them as soon as possible." The tallest of the group spoke like a leader while the others nodded in agreement.

"Poor Yugi and Yami, they must be starving by now." Joey said with pity in his eyes.

"But we've looked everywhere even before the storm arrived!" Malik exclaimed impatiently as always.

"He's right so I guess they must have been stuck in a place we haven't noticed before." Ryou said before pondering with one hand rested on his chin.

"I have the same thought as well." Kaiba said before nodding. "So, we should search from the same place again but this time, try to find anything that could possibly lead us to another place, like a cliff or a small path because something tells me they're not around here but somewhere else."

That remark instantly made Bakura looked up.

'_Cliff? I think I saw one while I was wandering around the forest before the storm arrived.'_ The spikier white-haired albino pondered whilst at that same moment, an imaginary light bulb slowly beginning to light up.

'_That cliff somehow looks familiar to me…and if I'm not mistaken, I saw some footprints on the mud and also something shiny...'_

While Bakura was immersed in his thoughts, the others had made a decision for their next plan.

"So it's decided, we're going to search around the forest once again and meet at the entrance before sunset." The blue-eyed stripling announced as all the teenagers except Bakura nodded in understanding.

"Let's hope that we can find them soon before it's too late." Ryou said restlessly, earning nods from his schoolmates.

"Come on guys, let's go find them now!" The shorter lavender-eyed boy spoke with eagerness evident in his voice as everyone stood up and was about to walk towards the door when out of a sudden, Bakura's piercing shout reached their ears.

"I got it!" The Air Elemental exclaimed before he stood up from the sofa and walked towards his cousins and friends who were all wearing the same surprised but confused expression.

"I know where they are."

After a half-hour pattering around the forest leaded by Bakura, they finally reached a place where a steep cliff was spotted in front of them.

"I figure that they've been to this place and then, they accidentally fell off the cliff." Bakura explained as the others stared at the cliff like scientists looking intently at their experiments.

"How can you be so sure that they fell off this cliff?" Ryou questioned but inside his heart, he hoped that Bakura's assumption was right.

"Yes, I'm sure of it because I've seen footprints on the mud before the storm arrived." The taller albino said while pointing at the mud on the right corner. There were no footprints shown on the surface due to the fact that the heavy rain had washed the evidence away.

"Hey, what's that shiny thing over there?" Joey asked as he walked towards the resplendent object that stuck on a rock beside the cliff. When he picked it up, he immediately recognized it as one of Yugi's precious items.

"Ryou, Malik. Come look at this."

The two Newcastle students ran towards him and looked at the item as well.

"No way." Ryou gasped with his hands covering his mouth in astonishment.

"What is it?" Kaiba inquired as the three Elementals walked to their side.

"It's Yugi's locket." Malik answered as he gave Kaiba the silver object to have a better look. The brunet then opened the locket to see a small photo of Yugi with his parents.

"So, it's true." Kaiba whispered before he looked up and announced,

"We have now found out the answer. Both Yami and Yugi came to this place and then, they fell off the cliff."

"Since we know where they are, let's go down the cliff and find them!" Malik exclaimed, as he was about to step down the cliff, Marik grabbed his shirt collar and told him to stay.

"Are you crazy? Do you want to get lost as well?" Marik retorted as he glared at his look-alike.

"Then, what can we do? There's no other way of going down the cliff, is there?"

"Actually, there is another way."

Everyone stared at the older white-haired boy but only the three Newcastle students displayed a stunned expression on each of their faces.

"There's a small path over there that can lead us to where they are." Bakura pointed to the direction where they saw a narrow muddy road on the North West side of the forest.

"Really?" Ryou asked, earning a nod from his 'twin'.

"Then, let's go!"

As soon as Malik spoke those words, he without delay ran towards that direction with Marik and the others followed him from behind.

**Meanwhile, on the other side of the forest…**

"Y…Yami, what…sh…should we do now?" Yugi quavered fretfully while hiding behind the ruby-eyed teen and grasped Yami's black shirt to control his fear.

However, Yami did not hear him as he was too engrossed in his thoughts while at the same time staring at the frightening object in front of him.

'_Should I use my elemental powers now?'_

**To Be Continued…**

That's the end of **Chapter 11**, another cliffhanger! XD So, what did Yami and Yugi encounter that made them both tremble in fear and their legs shaking like jelly? You'll have to find out in the next chapter although in my opinion, it's really easy to guess since my story is easy to predict…T_T (Why can't I write mind-twisting stories? (Sighs))

Anyways, I hope you enjoy reading this chapter and once again, _**thank you so much**_ for taking time reading this story. I really appreciate this! (Smiles optimistically) As you can see, I've added Kaiba's reaction when he _almost_ falling in love, and sooner or later, Marik's and Bakura's reactions will appear in later chapters.

**Story Faves** and **Story Alerts **are of course, welcomed! Stay tune for **Chapter 12: Monstrosity**!

More importantly, **review** please!


	12. Monstrosity

Hiya all you lovely people, what's up? :D *all kinds of deadly weapons pointing towards me* Okay, so nobody miss me but hey, now that I'm back you guys wouldn't have to worry about not getting an update isn't it nice? *crickets sound in the background* Fine, I'm _**TERRIBLY**_ sorry for updating absolutely _nothing_ for the past.._3 years_ (since the last update is 20/12/2009)! So again, very sorry for letting you guys wait for an update for so horribly long ~ It's true that I don't have confidence to write anymore but I finally decided to make a comeback and finish this story (and truly complete at least one story) but I have to warn you that you will get a slow update from me because I'm a final year student in my art college right now so I'll get very busy next week onward. Anyways, enough chit-chat from me and on to the story! Please excuse my poor writing skills, have stopped writing for 3 long years after all.

**Beta****: **_**Natoya**_

**Disclaimer****: **See Chapter 1

_**Keys**_**:**

"Talks"

'_Thoughts'_

**Chapter 12: Monstrosity**

'_So these are the dangerous animals father is talking about.'_ Yami thought quietly while having a few flashbacks where he had seen some in the news back when he was living in the city.

You see, there were many scientists who were having experiments in creating new types of species by combining two or more species into one. What's the use of them you ask? Besides gaining popularity so they could earn more money by selling them as pets, they could also be used to do lots of different things like helping you do chores perhaps due to the fact that by combining them, they will have more abilities and thus, much smarter than their previous generations. Even some were created for combat and killing purposes.

But of course there were many failed experiments on the way so the scientists either killed them or abandoned them in a deserted place and where do you think is the closest and best suited for their environment?

'_The Abandoned Forest', _pondered the ruby-eyed adolescent as his eyes narrowed cautiously at the deadly creature in front of him, one arm shielding his 'twin' who stood behind him in silence.

It was no surprise that the 9 feet tall beast that blocked their path was none other than the animal with the best sense of smell in the world, a brown grizzly bear, but it was no ordinary bear. Two long, curved tusks belonging to a certain Mammoth was attached on each side of its mouth with long but supportable leopard legs that stood on the ground firmly, sharp nails glinting in the sunlight. Last but not least, its thick brown fur was replaced by spiky but fatal needle-like quills.

When the huge being let out a frightening growl, Yami knew that it was time to move or else they'll be smacked down by the enemy's sharp claws, so without further ado, he grabbed Yugi's hand and ran as fast as he could towards the north.

Yugi searched through his pockets and swiftly took out his laser pen. However, it failed to not only harmed the creature but also worsen its mood as it quickened it's speed and soon, it was 4 arms distance away from the 'twins'.

"Yami, what should we do? It'll catch up to us soon if we don't think of something!" Said the younger of the two with anxiety detected in his voice while trying his best to keep up the pace.

'_There is only one thing I can do.'_ Yami thought with resolution in his mind as he pushed Yugi a few steps forward before he swung round to face his opponent.

"What are you doing-"

"Go up ahead and tell the others about the situation. I'll fight this beast to slow him down."

"Are you crazy? You can't fight this animal by yourself and I wouldn't leave you alone here!" The amethyst-eyed teen cried but when he took a step forward, his companion shot him a warning glare with apprehension shown in his ruby orbs.

"Just go! I'll be fine; I have experiences in fighting off beasts like this." Yami clarified which was not a lie as he and the others had been trained to fight ever since they have gotten their Elemental powers.

"Well, I can fight too-"

"No! I-" Before Yami could speak anything more, he saw thousands of jagged spines shooting towards the two and without thinking, Yami threw both Yugi and himself to the left where there was a large tree trunk standing innocently for shelter.

'_I can fight that thing easily with my powers but I can't let Yugi know about it.'_ The taller of the two pondered uneasily and before he could think further, a cry of concern reached his ears.

"Yami! The spikes.."

The said teen examined his body and found out that about 6 spikes stabbed on his left shoulder, 8 on his back, and around 10 on both his arms and legs respectively. Yugi on the other hand only had a few on his arms as Yami had shielded him just in time from behind.

"No worries, it's not poisonous so I'll live." Yami replied calmly as he took out the spikes on Yugi's arms while Yugi took out his.

"Yami, I-"

"Listen." The Fire Elemental spoke in a commanding but composed tone. "The others are searching for us right now and I'm sure that they have found out that we are not around that part of the forest but somewhere deeper so I need you to go ahead of me and tell them what's going on before they-"

Once again his words were cut off when a loud thumping sound was heard and before long, the tree they took shelter on were falling down the ground beside them. Instinctively, they both turned around to face another large, odd animal with forest-green orbs staring at them in anger.

With sweats dripping down their foreheads, they did the only course of action registering in their brains – Run.

**Meanwhile, on the other side of the forest...**

"Hey, can't you slow down for a bit? You're going to trip if you keep running like that." Exclaimed a teen with snow-white long hair as his classmate, Malik was running down the path with his counterpart, Marik following close to make sure he didn't trip.

"Come on, Ryou you slowpoke! We're going to rescue our friends down there and who knows what trouble they are facing right now!" Malik shouted as he glanced back before he took off in a greater haste.

"Yeah, I bet they're starving right now, good thing I brought some bread for them so they can eat when we reached them." Joey said with a dazzling smile painted on his face like he thought he was a genius for having such an idea.

'_All you can think about is food.'_ The tallest of the group, Kaiba mused while rolling his eyes but didn't object.

They have pattered (or ran on Malik's part) for nearly an hour but there was no sign of their tri-coloured haired friends so they continued walking until...

"Hey, did you hear that?" Malik asked but his mauve irises kept staring ahead.

"Yeah, what's that sound?" The Earth Elemental spoke while narrowing his eyes to see something moving, no...running towards them but at a far way distance.

Once they got closer to the subjects, their eyes widened like huge round plates before they spun round with their legs moving like spinning wheels.

"Where did both Malik and Marik go?" Ryou enquired curiously since they had gone further and have lost sight of the golden haired 'twins'.

"They wouldn't get lost since this is the only path that is connecting to the other side of the forest so there are no crossroads or whatever. And yes, I have been through this path before you came." Bakura added when Ryou was about to ask another question before his younger counterpart cogitated with his right hand on his chin.

"Did you find anything down there? And how come you didn't say anything about this path when we are looking for them?"

'_Why am I stuck with a brat who keeps asking so many questions?'_ The Air Elemental thought with a frustrated but anxious expression written on his face but Ryou mistook it as annoyance.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to annoy you. I'm just being curious and I heard from Yugi that you guys have been staying in the forest a week longer than we do." The Newcastle student explained softly whilst scratching the back of his head in a shy way.

With no idea forming in his head, he glanced at Kaiba who was busy chatting (more like arguing) with Joey who was eating a loaf of bread and after a minute, he sighed inwardly and was about to answer his counterpart's questions when out of a sudden, a faint shout reached his ears like a whisper so he decided to quicken his pace with his friends following behind him intriguingly.

"Bakura? What's happening? Did you hear something?"

"Shh!" The said teen put his right index finger to his lips as he slowly stopped his movements and listened closely to the screams which slowly getting more audible and when everyone heard the noise, it turned out to be the screams from their two other friends, Malik and Marik who by now were getting close to their visions.

"Why are they screaming? Is there something behind them?" Ryou asked peculiarly with Joey munching on his second half-eaten bread behind him. "Dohn nuoh, caunht cee onihin bahienth thmn." (Translated:_ "Don't know, can't see anything behind them._")

"Can you speak _after_ you swallow?" The Water Elemental spat irately before he turned to his younger cousin and gradually stepped towards him before he whispered in a quieter tone. "Did you find anything?"

Bakura closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he replied just as quiet. "I can smell lavender shampoo, peach flavour with mint body wash and blueberry pie which is no doubt from Marik." Marik had stolen food from Joey when he was not looking from his backpack before he took off with Malik leading the way 20 minutes ago so there was some pie crumps lingering in his mouth.

"Furthermore, way behind their back, there's some stinky smell of animal breath, fresh apples, slimy saliva and...poison?" The last word spoken by Bakura was unheard as Malik and Marik were only a few meters away from them but all they did was shouting hysterically with arms rising up in the air like wavering flags as they hurriedly approached them with panting breaths.

"What are you guys running away from?" Yelled Ryou but he did not get a reply as Malik swiftly grabbed his left arm and ran towards north with the others racing behind him but at a slightly slower pace.

"We found..we found..."

"What?"

"Yugi and Yami."

Everyone except Malik turned towards Marik who had no problem speaking. "They are right behind us."

"Then why are we running away from them?" Asked the honey-brown eyed stripling. "You guys are weird; I'm going to meet them while you guys go ahead." And so, he turned his direction and ran down the path.

"He's an absolute idiot! Of course we are not running away from them!" Malik sputtered wrathfully before turning back as well. "You guys can go forward."

"Malik, what's going on? Why are you running away? Did something chase after Yugi and Yami?" Ryou asked inquisitively while running beside Malik.

"Hey, I told you guys to-"

"I wouldn't leave you behind and I'm worried about Joey and the others." Ryou said with honesty and concern in his voice.

"We're coming along just to make sure you guys are safe and to prevent that bird-brain from causing any more troubles." Came from a deep tranquil voice from the tall brunet, Kaiba with Bakura snickering from behind.

"Fine, but don't blame me if I hadn't warned you about-"

Malik's words were cut off when they heard Joey's high-pitch panic-stricken shriek and soon, not only Joey but also Yugi and Yami were dashing towards them with sweats drenching their faces like heating food in microwaves.

"Yugi, Yami! We're so glad to see you-"

"Sorry but no time to talk, just run and don't look back!"

When Yugi's words reached their ears, they had already found their answers as their shocked yet stiff expressions proved their point. Not one but many kinds of weird and humongous beasts were sprinting towards them with their feet thumping down the ground harshly like drums, leaving some huge holes called footprints on the mud.

With one final scream from Ryou, the whole gang who were finally united scurried away from the hungry ugly monsters which were no doubt, planning their lunch preparation in their heads.

"What are we supposed to do? We can't run away from them forever, they'll catch up to us soon!" Malik howled frenetically before catching Ryou's arm, who almost tripped on the slippery mud.

The tallest of the group glanced at his three cousins and with a nod from each other, Kaiba announced with his authoritative voice.

"Bakura, take Yugi and his friends back to their tents. We'll stay behind to buy you guys some time." With these orders spoken by the brunet, three Elementals stopped their movement and swung back to face their foes while the Air Elemental pushed the Newcastle students forward while shielding them from behind.

"What? You people can't just-"

"Go! We'll be alright!"

"They can handle these things just fine so don't make things harder for them. Go now!" Bakura sputtered with pure irritation and aggravation in his tone so the Newcastle students had no choice but to listen to their counterparts and rushed forward, but not before they saw Kaiba's, Marik's and Yami's reassuring grins.

When the famished animals were getting a few inches closer to them, they started to battle with hand-to-hand combat while avoiding some poisonous saliva spitting from one of the creatures with its long elephant nose.

"Can we use our powers now?" Marik questioned stridently while punching on the rhino's back before jumping out of the way when thousands of rose thorns shooting from the same place.

"Not yet." The ocean-blue eyed adolescent answered while evading another round of spitting saliva but this time, it was sticky instead of poisonous. Yami on the other hand was jumping onto the elephant's back whilst narrowly avoiding poisonous darts shooting from its nostrils. _'What kind of shooting machine is this? Firstly, there's toxic saliva, then sticky gum, and now poisonous darts?'_

"Can we use it now?" Marik asked again after a minute of dodging saliva and punching big rhino game.

"No." Was the only word Seto uttered as he swiftly grabbed the twisting snake around his left arm that acted as a 'tongue' in the rhino's mouth, successfully untangled it before the rhino can claim his juicy delicious arm. _'Phew, that was close.'_

"Now?!" The Egyptian enquired yet again and just when he was about to kick away one of the spider's sharp blade-like legs, his right foot accidentally stepped on the sticky gum on the ground near an old-looking tree. "Oh, shoot. This is my favourite shoe!"

"No!" The tallest of the group repeated exasperatingly just before he managed to land a kick on the bear's long tusk that pointed dangerously close to his throat a while ago but failed to notice its long tongue that suddenly came out from its mouth and successfully trapped both of his wrists before another monster with long whip-like tail slapped his back callously, releasing a hissing sound from the brunet.

"Seto!" Yami cried with worry glimmered in his ruby irises before he too was trapped by a long rope-like slimy tongue belonging to a large shape-shifting iguana that was camouflaged and changed into a tree a while ago. "What kind of monsters are these?" He grumbled tediously while struggling to free himself from the tongue trap and getting away from the rhino which was charging and aiming for his chest.

While Marik was trying to save his younger cousin after leaving his right shoe on the sticky gum, Seto silently started a countdown in his head starting from...

**10...**

The golden-haired teenager slammed his body to the right with brute force, causing the rhino to crash onto the ground with a loud thud but not before it released a cloud of toxic gas onto his face from his butt.

**9...**

"Eww!" Marik cried whilst covering his nose and when he could see things clearer, the spider shot his eight blades that attached to each of its legs towards him, four of them effectively stabbed his clothing onto a huge tree trunk with one stabbing onto his right arm which caused it to bleed immensely. "Gah!"

**8...**

Although the spider lost its precious blades, it still had its ultimate weapon; the venomous spit that could form into sticky web strings as it slowly and creepily crawled near its prey.

**7...**

"Even though I like to play Dart Games, this isn't what I have in mind." Marik whimpered with sweats falling down his forehead like pouring waterfall as the image of his ravenous enemy reflected in his mauve orbs.

**6...**

While the Egyptian aggressively pulling one of the blades away from his injured arm, at the same time Yami was pulling his second dagger from under his long right black boot by lifting his legs closer to his outstretched right hand (his first was thrown and crushed by the rhino's strong teeth when he was fighting with the elephant).

**5...**

When Yami lucratively grabbed the dagger in his hand, he immediately swung it towards the rhino's right eye which splattered blood out of its socket instantly, making the animal roared in pain.

**4...**

Unfortunately, this made the leader of the monster group: a giant lion with large eagle wings, pointed cat ears, malicious bat fangs and long lizard tail to growl with fury as it headed straight to Yami's direction with tramp steps, mouth opening wide to reveal its sharp fangs that sparked in the sunlight.

**3...**

Seto has untangled the bear's tongue by cutting it off with his knife hidden in his right pocket but was swiftly snatched away by a sneaky hyena and with its saliva, the knife was melted with a sizzling sound before swallowing it into its stomach.

**2...**

Before the brunet had time to think, the hyena pushed him onto the dirty mud with its legs stepping onto his body, preventing him from escaping with drops of saliva dripping down his chest which slowly burnt his clothes and later on, flesh.

**1...**

"Arrgghh! I can't take this anymore! I'm going to use it no matter what!" Marik shrieked after pulling the blade out of his wounded arm but by now the spider had gotten close to its victim and is releasing its long string of poisonous spit towards his face. At the same moment, the lion pounced on Yami who was still trapped around the giant iguana's tongue in a cocoon form, its fangs two inches close to his restless face.

**0...**

"NOW!" Was the only word Kaiba voiced aloud as everyone at the same point transformed part of their bodies into their respective elements. As the hyena was shooting lava-like saliva onto Kaiba's face, his ocean-blue eyes glowed before he transformed his body into water, making him able to shape-shift and avoiding the lava spit in time but that's not all, as soon as he returned to his original form, his left hand turned into a solid ice blade and cut the hyena's body into half, resulting said animal to screech in pain before falling onto the ground lifelessly.

On the other side of the battle, Marik dodged the spider's spit by lowering his head whilst pressing his hands onto the tree trunk behind him. Half-minute later, vines started to grow from the tree and soon it acted like the octopus's tentacles and coiled around each of the blades that stuck onto the wood's surface before pulling them out simultaneously, freeing him from his trap. "You're gonna pay for that Spidey!" The Earth Elemental bellowed before wrapping the creature's body with the same vines and since it lost its blades, it had no way of cutting the thick vines and when it was wrapped into a cocoon-like form, the teenager smirked in triumph.

Lastly, Yami the Fire Elemental puffed his cheeks before shooting a fireball the size of a cannon ball into the lion's mouth, fruitfully melting the fangs in the process and moreover, caused the beast to leap away from the tri-coloured haired adolescent with tears falling from its eyes but there was no time to rest as he promptly turned his body temperature hotter and eventually, fire surrounded his whole being which in fact burned the iguana's tongue in the process so it impulsively released its hold on Yami. Just when he spun round to face the lion with its bleeding mouth, he noticed the clouds unexpectedly got darker on his right and when he and his cousins looked up, their faces grew pale.

"What the hell are those?" The stripling with the darkest skin among the group questioned with his mouth gaped slightly wider when the tiny objects got closer to their eyesight.

A huge swarm of scorpions with dragonfly wings stuck on their backs were flying towards their enemies; their small black eyes twinkled in the sunlight like cursed black jewels. Before any of the three could do anything, the insects pointed their tails straightforwardly in the direction of the three teens before firing thousands of noxious needles onto them.

Of course the three of them were preparing to protect themselves by releasing their respective shields, Yami with his warped fire shield surrounding him and his cousins, Kaiba with his water shield that acted like a bouncing jelly and last of all, Marik with his mud shield summoned from the ground below him but will they summoned their shields in time? And if they did, will these shields be enough to protect all three of them? And what about the animals that were charging towards them when they weren't looking?

Just when the needles were about to touch their shields, a huge gust of wind blew the threatening weapons away and before either of the three could even blink, a half-invisible guy were blowing strong swirls of winds onto the mud, creating large piles of dust scattering in every corner and efficiently pushed the approaching animals a few steps away from their foes.

"You guys just can't handle these creatures without me, can't cha?"

When the three cousins took a better look at their surroundings, they saw a smirking Bakura standing proudly in front of them with sunlight shining behind him with all its glory, making him looked like a hero from the movie.

"Pfft, yeah right...like we need you to help us. You're not our babysitter you know." Marik said sarcastically whilst rolling his eyes but they were happy to meet their last Elemental coming to join their team, now "The Elementals" was complete.

"It's all Seto's fault for making me lose half of the fun." The white-haired teen grumbled frustratingly at the brunet who slightly grinned in response.

"You know the reason why I sent you to bring the others to safety." Seto replied as he wrapped the sponge-like water around the spikes before shooting them back using the water shield's bouncing effect, causing the bear to take the damage instead. "You are the only one who is fast enough to bring them back to their tents and then come back using your ridiculously fast wind speed."

"True." Bakura answered back while spinning his fingers round the air to produce a tornado before sending it to the scorpion's direction. "Tornado Blades!" Stated the said teen as the scorpion army got sucked into the tornado and soon, the spinning velocity of the tornado quicken before turning into invisible blades that sliced all of the trapped scorpions into half."But you know that I love to battle."

Seeing Bakura's pout made his three cousins chuckled as they quicken their pace as one by one, the animal fell onto the ground helplessly while some like the iguana and the lion had escaped back to where they originally came from.

"Well, I guess that's that." Seto elucidated with his deep-blue eyes swishing from left to right before dusting his hands by clapping. They looked at the monsters they slaughtered mercilessly with guilt and slight curiosity flashing in their eyes.

The bear was drowned in bulky water ball container formed by the Water Elemental; the spider was stabbed by five prickly fang-shaped tree trunks which was no doubt the Earth Elemental's deed. Marik had been surprised by the sudden attack when the cocoon-like vines broke using its last defence: two thin but very sharp and wide insect wings the shape of a quarter pie. The elephant which acted as a shooting machine was killed by The Fire Elemental as he tied its legs using fire ropes before flipping it upside down. Then he burned its ultimate weapon: its nose using inflammation and sending a fire bomb into its mouth, causing it to explode into pieces of flesh and poison spits but before the explosion happened, Yami made a fire shield around the creature so the fleshes and spits did not fly everywhere. Finally, the rhino was murdered by Bakura's wind dagger dance technique and Yami's lava and fire breathing.

"I think we better fix ourselves before we return to the tents." Kaiba stated before they looked at their injuries and torn clothes.

"Heh, mine is easy as the air is all around me, all I have to do is suck them into my mouth and wah-lah!" To prove his point, the brown-eyed stripling took a deep breath and sucked some of the air into his mouth, the cuts and bruises including a major gash found on his right thigh slowly closed and soon, not even a scratch can be seen on his skin.

"I can use Heliokinesis with the help of the sun to heal my wounds, I even bring along my uncle's specially made glass necklace to produce fire." Yami explained and when he held his necklace in the direction where the sun shone the brightest, a huge glass lens materialized and expanded in front of him and when its surface touched the sun-rays, huge amount of fire created on the pieces of dry wood Yami collected a while ago, giving him something called a "Fire Bath". Two minutes later, he was restored to full health. "I haven't eaten fire ever since our new friends arrived."

"Yeah, I miss using my powers so much already." Marik spoke while pretending to sob desolately as he too healed himself by cutting a hefty tree trunk into half and ate them with a satisfied grin on his features. "This tastes so _good_!" He exclaimed with a lick around his lips.

"Bakura, bring me to the lake once you're done, I don't think I can find water as much as that lake." The brown-haired adolescent requested but it sounded more like a demand.

"Yeah, yeah. I know." With those last words, the Air Eater took Kaiba to their destination using his teleportation wind speed.

After watching the two cousins flying above the trees, Yami told his golden-haired companion to hurry up before they both dashed forward, towards their new friends.

When Kaiba had finished healing by soaking himself in the lake, he turned to his shorter relative who was standing under a tree behind him with his arms crossed.

"How did you manage to convince Yugi and the others to not come and rescue us?"

All Bakura did was grinning back at him.

**Meanwhile in Ryou's tent...**

"Bakura, I'm _**SO**_ going to kill you when you come back!" Yelled Ryou as he wrathfully hammered his door loudly and if you look closer, there was a small crack on the door's surface. This shows how infuriated Ryou was right now.

"Who would have thought that Bakura would successfully lock us in here by activating the tent's full security and traps system?" Joey asked with a nervous laugh.

**To Be Continued...**

I didn't expect this chapter to be this long...XD But anyways, I hope you guys enjoy reading this long-awaited chapter even though it might be confusing or expectable (because again, I can't make mind-twisting stories) this is the only thing I can think of that makes them scared or something? (I fail at horror, seriously because I hate that genre) At least it forced them to use their elemental powers and it's about time for them to show off what they're made of right? :P Bakura has better sense of smell and sounds because of his element of course, the wind brought those information to him like a whisper of the wind..;) Sorry if the action sucks (to be honest, it's the first time I wrote so many action and fighting scenes in a chapter until I got confused myself, lol!) I don't write enough stories and therefore, lack experience in these kind of stuff even though I read a lot of fan-fictions. Also very sorry for the lack of fluff as well, it's all action-packed here since in the previous chapter, all they did were getting familiarised with their new friends (without using much powers) so after this chapter, it'll go back to more chatting and more show time for the Newcastle students! :D

Once again, **REVIEWS** are very much welcomed as well as **_Story Faves _**and **_Alerts_**! *shows puppy eyes* Thanks a lot for the support and encouragement from you all, it really means the _**WORLD**_ to me! It really do! :3 So keep them coming and it'll definitely keep my writing 'flame' going! :P

By the way, if you haven't noticed, I have changed this story's cover *points at picture* Things have changed so much in 3 years isn't it? So another workload for me (yes, I **DREW** that cover and here's the picture link if you want to see, it has the word "com" after ".imagetoo."):

www .imagetoo. /up/ tem p/ theelement. jp g

Hope you guys like it, even though I could have done better...*sobs* And expect a slow update from me since college starts next week onward and since I'm a final year student studying the 2nd final semester, I'll have even _more_ workload! T_T

So go click on the button below! *shows halo on top of my head* And don't forget to vote on my poll! Ciao! *waves* Stay tune for **Chapter 13: Grandpa**! ^^

P.S: _**Merry**__** (Belated) **__**Christmas**_ and _**Happy New Year 2013**_! :D


	13. Grandpa

First thing I would like to say is, _**Thank You So Much**_ to all of you especially those who support me since Chapter 1! Like I said earlier, you make me keep my writing 'flame' going so I will do my best to update this story as soon as possible! To bakurasgirl123, Haley and Ceiwen, thank you very much for the reviews and so glad that you guys love this story! I can only hope that you will like this chapter too so let's start right away but of course, the usual info comes first:

**Beta****: **(she's busy so the chapter is un-beta at the moment)

**Disclaimer****: **See Chapter 1

_**Keys**_**:**

"Talks"

'_Thoughts'_

**~Flashbacks~**

**Chapter 13: Grandpa **

The moment "The Elementals" arrived at their destination, the Air Elemental swiftly disabling the tent's security system with his gifted talent in 'break-and-enter' and the first reward he got was a neck-strangling from his counterpart, Ryou Bakura followed by the rest of his friends approaching their respective companions in apprehension. The older boys explained plainly that they managed to set up a trap to distract the animals while giving them time to escape. The reason for creating this lie was mainly to cover their true identities and also to lessen their friend's worries even though they have healed themselves to almost full health. The Newcastle students clearly had doubts written on their faces but promptly brushed off as all that mattered was their safe return. As the teenagers were having a great time celebrating their reunion with Yugi and Yami...

"Somebody help me stop this maniac before I really lose my voice!"

"Who are you calling a maniac, Bakura!"

Their friends could only shook their heads while some snickered candidly as they watched the two white-haired adolescents wrestling like 5-year old children before Yugi and Joey decided to move and stop the commotion. For them both to act uncharacteristically could only mean one thing.

"Bakura is slowly falling for that kid, isn't it?" Yami asked with a mixture of surprise and amusement painted on his features.

"I know it will happen someday but never expect this soon." Seto agreed with a soft chuckle that effortlessly caught Joey's attention.

"Oi! I can hear that you know!" Yet the Air Elemental's terrorizing glare did nothing to stop his cousins from smirking.

With a satisfying dinner and story-telling of "_The Adventures of the Star-Shaped Haired Twins_" as they called it, the day was coming close to an end but not before a small gathering between the Newcastle students in Yugi's tent.

"I'm glad that you are safe, Yugi!" Ryou spoke distraughtly with his buddies sitting close to each other forming a small circle. "We are so worried that you might get caught by the storm-"

"Or ambushed by those dangerous animals we saw earlier!" Yelled Malik whilst trembling at the thought of being squished by the said living beings.

"Or even starve to death!" Trust Joey to worry about food all the time.

"Guys, I'm fine." Yugi said tranquilly with both of his hands holding up like he always does when trying to calm his friends' fretfulness. "I can take care of myself; I'm not as weak as I used to be anymore. Besides, Yami is right by my side all along and he's being kind and protective of me throughout the whole journey."

As soon as he spoke his last words, the threesome looked at each other before staring back at his tri-colored haired classmate, each with a teasing smirk on his face.

"So, my dear friend Yugi." Malik stated with that same grin plastered on his attractive lips. "What happened between you and Yami while we were busy looking for you two?"

"Nothing." Was the amethyst-eyed boy's straightforward answer, he should have known that they would throw those kinds of questions at him later on. "Like we told you guys earlier after dinner, we're both trying to find our way out of the forest but get wedged by the wild storm so we had to stay in a tree-house until it subsided, then Yami found a path that leaded us to our tent but halfway there, we stumbled upon those animals you saw previously, we ran forward and that's when we met Malik and Marik, and you get the rest of the story."

"Duh! We know that already." Joey exclaimed whilst rolling his eyes. "We want to know the details, there must be _something_ going on between you two! You've been trapped in that forest with Yami for what...5 days and you're telling me that there's absolutely nothing happened?"

Before Yugi could open his mouth, the Egyptian hastily spoke next.

"That fat-ass hippo is right! You and him staying together _alone_ for 5 _freaking_ days! And don't tell me you don't feel anything towards him, I can see the way you look at him so shyly like a girl sending love letters to her secret admirer."

"What? I did not-"

"What did you just call me, you stupid sports-freak with glittery girly hair!" Joey interrupted with a retort and an irate glare directed towards his golden-haired comrade.

"Don't you dare insult my hair!" Then unexpectedly, Malik's smile widen into a knowing smirk before saying the one word. "Mutt."

"That's it! I'm going to cut your tongue out so you can't talk any longer!"

While Yugi's words fall on deaf ears, Ryou, the peacemaker of the group stepped between the two brawling teens and split them apart with much difficulty due to his skinnier form. "Cut it out, guys. It's over midnight right now and your ear-splitting shouts will wake the others up."

Although the spare bedroom that Yami was staying in Yugi's tent had soundproof barrier activated all over the area, with those two loud-mouths roaring like the sounds of thunders, even that barrier couldn't withstand their sound wavelength so thankfully, they stopped their so-called friendly fight and sat down once more.

"Anyways, I don't think something like that goes on between them...yet." Yugi would have hugged his white-haired friend if it wasn't for that one word 'yet'. "But I do agree with Malik and Joey about something you haven't told us in detail, like when you and Yami stayed inside the tree-house. Care to tell us?"

With his three friends ogling and trapping him like predators staring hungrily at their one and only supper, the shortest of the group sighed dejectedly before slowly answering,

"Okay, fine. I'll tell." Yugi drawled before looking up. "But first, I need to know something."

"What?" Came Malik's question.

"Have you finished your project while I was away?"

10 seconds passed, then a minute, and when it felt like forever, Ryou's scream resonated in the night as that one sentence finally registered in their minds and stunned them like an alarm clock waking them up from their deep slumber, but this time their nightmares have just begun.

"Oh my gosh! I completely forgot about that!" Cried the brown-eyed stripling with his hands holding both sides of his head in panic.

"We were so worried about you that we spent every minute of it trying to find a way to save you and ignore everything else!" Came the next yell from the boy with the darkest skin among the group.

"And then those _friends_ of ours are forced to stay in our tents due to the storm so we got distracted especially when I have to live under the same roof with a rude guy like Kaiba! We both argued every time we meet each other so how can I do my homework peacefully with him sticking to my nose constantly? So yeah, you can't blame me for not doing anything." Joey explained whilst nodding his head repetitively as if he was reassuring himself.

"What? My so-called roommate is so much worse than yours I bet!" Malik bellowed in disbelief. "That idiot 'twin' of mine is the one who attaches to me like glue and that's not all! We decided to make dinner ourselves but he destroyed almost my _entire_ kitchen with his clumsy and stupid brain so in the end, what do we eat? Bread, I tell you! Just a loaf of _cold_ bread for dinner!"

"Oh my, I never thought this would happen to you, poor Malik." Ryou said with his hands rubbing Malik's back to soothe him as the martial artist faked cried in Ryou's arms. "Mine is not such a bad case, Bakura can actually be quite nice but still, there's something odd about him that I can't put a finger on."

While the threesome was conversing about their individual roommates, they utterly forgot about their main question of the day and sadly, their purple-eyed buddy standing behind them.

'_Now I'm more interested in knowing their daily lives with their roommates, but I can ask them another time and I can't help but notice that they are getting pretty close to them, maybe their relationships are more intimate compared to mine and Yami's...wait, what?'_

Yugi shook his head in order to get rid of the ridiculous thought. _'Why did I think of that all of a sudden?'_ He then sighed heavily as he moved forward and settled his friends down but not before thinking his last thought silently in his head.

'_At least they stopped asking questions about me and Yami, they will tease me all day long if I answer them since they know I'm a terrible liar.'_

Meanwhile inside the spare bedroom that was occupied by Yugi's look-alike was now empty due to a sudden call the ruby-eyed teen received from his close friend.

**~Flashback~**

"**Finally, a nice, soft bed to sleep on after such an exhausting night!" Yami exclaimed while flopping down onto the cosy bed with a pleased sigh. He then folded both of his arms behind his head whilst at the same time, gazing the white ceiling in full attentiveness.**

"**It has been so long since the last time I slept in a large bed as comfortable as this." The star-shaped haired boy cogitated as flashbacks of his joyful city life invaded in his mind. "Makes me wish that I can turn back time so that horrible disaster never happens, I wonder what my family is doing at the moment, especially father..."**

**Yami's nostalgic feelings were interrupted when without warning, a vivid red light shimmered at the centre of the triangular glass necklace he wore around his neck followed by a soft blinking sound. His right calloused fingers held the piece of material up to his face as without delay, a hologram emerged with a GPS tracking device map presenting in front of him, his piercing crimson irises narrowed in awareness before he found what he was looking for, a bright red dot flickered on the right-north side of the forest.**

**Without further ado, the teenager jumped off the bed, opened the window speedily with cautious hands as with one last look at his bedroom, the Fire Elemental climbed onto it and stepped onto the grass before he sprinted towards his target urgently whilst at the back of his mind, silently apologizing to his smaller twin and hoped he did not freaked out of his sudden absence.**

**~Flashback ended~**

When he was far away from the tents, Yami produced a round flame disk that could boost his speed tremendously and thus, reached his goal in just about 5 minutes. It was not necessary to do so and Seto would not be happy about this yet he did not care as once he stood on the spot where the target formerly was, he lighted his right index finger on fire and that's where he saw a tiny insect flying towards it.

"A Mosquito?" Yami whispered whilst raising a right eyebrow reflexively.

Knowing that the bug would not harm him in any way, the stripling closed his eyes whilst allowing it to do its task. The miniature pest injected his finger with its prickly needle-like mouth before a mental image materialized, showing a man in mid 70s beaming in his head.

"Hello, Master Yami. Long time no talk, how have you been recently?"

The said teen couldn't help but smiled back before he answered with a shrug of his shoulders. "Oh, you know...same old same old."

"The usual bickering between your cousins until half of the forest has been damaged by let's say...floods? Tornadoes? Earthquakes? Or from what your powers can do...droughts?"

"That's a bit too much, Grandpa!" The youngster said along with a chuckle. "Although Bakura, Marik and occasionally Seto and me can sometimes get carried away by our emotions, we don't cause uproar as dreadful as that...well, maybe once or twice before but that's a long time ago." He then shuddered inwardly when one of the horrible scenes entered his mind. It was not long after they left the city that their emotions were pretty much unstable but that was comprehensible as few months later, their feelings had quelled greatly and therefore, able to manage their powers a little better than last time.

"I was just kidding, Master Yami." The older man chortled in return before giving him a soft, heartfelt smile. "I told you not to call me Grandpa; you are my master after all."

"And I told you to stop calling me Master Yami, just Yami is fine." The ex-master replied back with an aggravated sulk which successfully broadening the elder's smile. "You know how much you mean to me as a family member."

"Well, yes but..."

"Anyways..." Even though it was rude of him to disrupt when a grown-up was speaking, this has become a norm to him as he knew both of them were stubborn when it came to name calling. "How is father doing?"

"Always straight to the point, eh?" The grey-haired fellow remained calm yet Yami's perceptive eyes could see the smile became strained though he hid it well, as only those who were close to the senior could only detect his slight change in body language. After few moments of silence between them, a dismal sigh finally broke the tense atmosphere.

"I hate to break this to you but your father isn't in good condition-"

"What happened? Tell me!"

Yami had known a year ago that his father had diagnosed with a grim unidentified disease that was triggered mostly on account of fatigue, depression and lack of appetite. Ever since his precious son left his humble home, things had never been the same again. It was as if life has sucked out of his family especially his father who had raised him the moment he was born into a great man he was now. Many years has passed since that incident took place as day by day, the man's state got poorer and poorer until one day, the lord collapsed in his bathroom and it took 10 minutes for the older man to find his location before he instinctively called the ambulance for help.

"As you have realized from the last time we talked, his conditions have never improved but recently..." He paused for a moment before he resumed his speech, this time in a much softer, lower whisper. "He began to cough blood the size of a plate."

The last sentence struck him like a lost unmoved doll; the first thought in his mind immediately went back to the point when he had a nightmare about seeing his father coughing out blood while he was stuck in the forest with Yugi. Was it some kind of a bad signal? Like a premonition? All he knew was that he did not want this occur to any of his closest family members at all, especially not him. What will he do if he...

"Yami!"

"Huh?" The tri-colored haired youth snapped out from his thoughts before he focused his mind back to the image of the grey-haired man with his eyes still closed.

"I know how you feel, boy." The plump senior said with a reassuring smile. "But he is fine for the time being and it is not your fault that these things happen so don't give me that guilty look."

Yami would have given him a sheepish expression for getting caught if he wasn't this disheartened and concerned about his father's health.

"Besides, his friends and I are taking care of him so don't you worry a thing."

"Easy for you to say, Grandpa." Was Yami's only response but that lifted his spirit a little. He could count on his dad's reliable and faithful friends, as well as this Grandpa he was speaking to who was his family's oldest butler and caretaker.

"We all miss you, Yami."

"Yeah, I know." Oh, how he wished he could return to the way it was before he received his powers. "I miss you and everyone else too."

Stillness took place once more but after a minute or two, the elder looked up with a clearer voice that demanded full attention from the youngster.

"By the way, there is one thing I should tell you."

"Oh, what is it?" That effectively brushed the rest of his miserable thoughts out of his head in an instant.

"The packages will be delivered in a day or two in front of the entrance, make sure you or your cousins pick them up when they arrive."

"Yes, thank you, Grandpa."

The government had allowed The Elementals's family members to deliver anything necessary to the four boys but obviously, the items will have to pass through a strict security check before they send the packages to their destination via Air Mail. The items received from them were usually new clothes, study materials, newspapers and so on. There were only two main rules which they need to obey and those were...

One, _**NO**_ electronic devices were allowed to be sent to the boys. This proved to be very tough for the teenagers as citizens from all over the world depended heavily on them as generations after generations, science and technology enhanced enormously in a rapid pace so young people like them had caught up in using almost everything electronic in their daily lives. The four teens were dismayed when they heard such a harsh rule especially Kaiba who was the one most involved in this, mainly the laptop he always brought with him anytime, anywhere.

Two, the items can be delivered once every four months only. Also, contacts between The Elementals and the citizens (particularly their family members) were absolutely _**NOT **_approved thus even letters were not able to be sent to the four adolescents. This was another letdown for the boys as who knows how long they could see their family members again, the government has yet to mention when they were allowed to be back to the city and with almost all of the citizens shooting loathing glares at them on the day they left the place, they had a feeling that they should prepare for the worst.

(Yami's glass necklace was the one and only electronic device they had but that particular item was secretly brought to him in approximately 1 year and 4 months later, an electronic device with the shape and function of a mole dug out of his cottage's front door and fruitfully delivered the said necklace to its rightful owner before it self-destruct with a small explosion, this was to prevent the government from finding out about it. When Yami found out about the purpose of the item, in the next 4 months, an unnoticeable but distinctive robot insect the size of a micro chip acted as a 'messenger' and for the first time, Yami was able to communicate with his fellow family member. This continued as a routine as every 4 months before the package was sent to them, one of Yami's close relatives would dispatch a different robot bug to keep in touch.)

"Anything else?"

"Hmm...Let me think." Due to his old age, short-term memory was to be expected. "Oh, yes. You can tell Master Seto, Master Bakura and Master Marik that their families are fine. Master Seto's little brother, Mokuba is doing well in college while Bakura's aunt and uncle are working on their business investments productively and lastly, Marik's relatives were the same as last time though his uncle has made plans to stay in Australia, something about building up his business and start a new life there though the rest are staying in Egypt."

"I see. That's good to hear, I will tell them tomorrow regarding their families' status."

"Alright and erm..." The butler scratched his head in aggravation while stroking his beard which was his common habit when he was thinking hard.

As the senior took his time to recollect his memories, Yami looked up when moonlight shone onto him like a brilliant spotlight and that's when he realized the time.

'_I think I better hurry before Yugi comes and finds me.'_

"I guess I should get going..."

"Yes, that's right...I almost forgot!" The grey-haired man suddenly exclaimed whilst unintentionally cut off Yami's dialogue.

"Is there something new going on recently?"

That question was unforeseen as the red-eyed teen blinked confusingly with surprised expression written on his charming face.

"Nothing's going on, Grandpa." The Fire Elemental replied with slight shake of his head. "Although we have unexpected visitors coming here but it seems that they have no ill intentions, just four students planning to stay in the woodland for doing their science projects. They will leave after two weeks I think."

"Is that so?" Were the only words uttered by the old man himself. "How long have they been staying there exactly?"

"Err..." Now it was Yami's turn to recall his memories. "Around 8 days including today."

"What do they look like?"

"Well, there is one named Malik Ishtar, he looks so much like Marik but his body is a little less bulky and his blond hair doesn't have that kind of crazy pine tree look. Then there's Ryou Bakura and no, he's not related to Bakura but his features are quite similar to him, again his white hair is less wild and his brown eyes are much larger. Next is Joey Wheeler, he has short blond hair and dark brown eyes and his height is almost as tall as Bakura. Lastly, Yugi Mutou is my look-alike and I really mean it. He's slightly shorter than me and he has large purple eyes but everything else looks so similar to mine, even my star-shaped tri-colored haired but then he doesn't have yellow bangs shooting upwards like lightning bolts. I guess that's it."

As he described his new friend's features as best as he could, the older one of the two listened keenly as he nodded once in a while before drawing a conclusion.

"Yami, I think I know those new friends you met."

That had once again stunned Yami to no end.

"Eh? You know them?"

"Technically, yes." The butler said with a firm nod. "Listen, Yami. What I'm about to tell you is important so listen well."

Yami straightened himself before he nodded understandably. "Okay."

"About those four, they are actually there for a mission...or so I heard."

"What mission?" Now that sparked Yami's interest even more.

"I'm not sure because I can't hear their conversations clear enough." The plump old man answered with a disappointed sigh. "But what I can tell is that..."

"**_3 seconds before self-destruct_**."

"What?" This was not the right time for that at all. "What did you want to say Grandpa?"

The older male tried to speak a few more words but it was soon cut off as the image in Yami's head faded into nothingness and when he opened his eyes, the mosquito retracted its mouth from his finger and flew away as the next thing happened was a tiny explosion followed by a cloud of dust with tiny pieces of metal falling onto the mud's surface.

The star-shaped haired adolescent cursed at the bad timing inwardly with his teeth grinding in disappointment, his eyes were directing at the chunks sparkling on the moonlight.

'_Darn it, I'm so close and it seems to be serious judging from the look on his face.'_

The last image in his brain was the troubled expression written all over his old butler's features and the message had to be important as he was usually composed in any situations and therefore, rarely showed any nervousness in him except when it comes to people he cared about. All in all, it could mean one thing.

'_That mission definitely has something to do with us being "The Elementals". After all, I did hear some words from him like "be careful", "using powers" and "around them" which I assume is our new friends. Did they know something about us? What are the relationships between Grandpa, Yugi and his friends? What is their mission? Arrgghh! So many questions left unanswered!'_

Yami ruffled his hair as a way of releasing his irritation and just when he was about to turn around and head back to Yugi's tent, a twig's snap stopped his movements completely as the hair on the back of his neck stood up edgily.

'_Oh oh, who is it this time? Please don't be Yugi, please don't be Yugi.'_

"Yami?"

The ruby'eyed youngster's prayers were crushed when he heard an angelic voice reaching his eardrums which could only belong to none other than his look-alike. With an inward sigh and a tranquil expression, he swung round to face his new-found friend with his usual amiable smile on his lips.

"Hey, Yugi."

The shorter of the two smiled back in return.

"Hey, Yami. What are you doing out here? I was looking for you when I found that you're not in your room." Yugi asked with a frown and a flash of worry in his amethyst eyes.

Yami gave him an apologetic expression as he politely replied, "Sorry. I can't sleep so I decide to go out and get some fresh air." At the same time, he secretly hoped that Yugi did not hear any conversation between him and his butler.

"I see. But you could have told me before going out, and why don't you use the front door? It's not like we're having a secret discussion or something." Yugi said whilst shrugging his shoulders. "Doing it that way makes me feels like you're in a hurry or have done something secretive behind my back. Maybe I watch too much crime and investigation scenes, haha!"

However, Yugi's last sentence caused such a huge fright inside Yami but thankfully he managed to keep his calm without his comrade's notice.

'_He's right! Why didn't I think of that? I must have been worried about the time limit of the bomb inside the robot bug.'_ The taller teen thought with an inward face palm.

Yami's few moments of stillness must have been taken a bit too long as Yugi was about to ask another question when Yami's eyes caught an object the same colours as his eyes flying towards his way.

"Ah. There you are, Flare!"

Hearing the sound of a bird's tweet made Yugi spun round to face a woodpecker flapping its wings and later on, situated on Yami's right shoulder.

"Yugi. This is the friend I told you about before we fall down the cliff."

"Oh." Was the only word he uttered as the previous conversation was forgotten when he stared into the blue jewels which represented Flare's eyes. "She looks so pretty."

The bird chirped happily in reply as Yami stepped closer with Yugi ready to reach out and touched the bird's feathers. "Can I?"

"Of course."

Seeing the bird still standing on the same spot encouraged Yugi to move forward and stroked the bird's feathers as gentle as he could. "Wow, it's so soft." His actions earned a bird's delightful chirp as it leaned onto his touch which caused him to chuckle in response.

'_Yugi's smile never ceases to amaze me but his laughter is so pleasant to my ears like music, I hope I get to hear that often.'_

Yami's intense stare and attractive smile must have been distracting to Yugi as the smaller teenager promptly realized the close distance between them and so, he moved two steps away from the older of the two and shyly looked up.

"Thanks for introducing me to your friend, Yami. She's gorgeous and fun to be with."

"I'm glad to hear that."

With a quick goodbye from their new friend, Flare, they walked towards Yugi's tent whilst chatting with each other with soft but joyful voices as they were getting ready to go to bed. Their last thoughts were the missions set for tomorrow.

'_Tomorrow I will have to tell Seto and the others about my talk with Grandpa along with the mission he mentioned to me. I wonder what it's about.'_

Whilst Yami casted a sideway glance towards Yugi's back before closing his bedroom's door, the shorter 'twin' strolled towards his own bedroom, determination twinkled in his purple irises.

'_Tomorrow we need to finish our school project quickly. We have a mission to complete this week.'_

As Yugi gave a peek at Yami's bedroom door, the one thought lingered in his head before he closed his door as darkness enveloped him in his room.

'_The mission to capture "The Elementals" and bring them back to the city.'_

**To Be Continued...**

...and cut! That's it for Chapter 13! I wonder how this plays out next chapter, still need to think of some more ideas but the main plots are all in my head already...I'm getting excited and worried about them at the same time! XD Sorry for the cliff-hanger once again and sorry for the lack of fluff even though I try to add some Puzzleshipping moments at the end of the story (and also Tendershipping at the beginning although you can't tell much unless you get why they were 'brawling' like that? :P...with one sentence hinting Puppyshipping? LOL!)

I hope you enjoy reading this chapter! It has revealed more information about Yami's and his cousin's lives back in the past and I wonder who that butler is...I'm sure it's easy to guess...*sobs* If you have any questions, don't hesitate to PM me and I will answer as best as I can! :D Also, _**vote**__ on my poll_ please!

Again with the usual quotes in every chapter, "_**Faves**__ and __**Alerts**__ are always welcomed_" along with "_**REVIEWS**__ are much appreciated_!" Please do so and I shall be eternally grateful! XD So stay tune for **Chapter 14: Tutors**!

P.S: Thank you so much for the "Over 9000" views! Also, I wonder what I should do once I get 100 reviews. So excited! XD


	14. Tutors & Fish

Woohoo! This story finally has over 10,000 views and over 100 reviews, couldn't have done it without you guys so big props and applause to you all! *throws confetti and gives cookies to everyone* I didn't expect this story to become this popular so thank you, I will continue to work hard on them. Please do tell me if there are any suggestions or critiques, I'm all the more willing to accept them! XD To celebrate this wonderful achievement, I have prepared a special 'present' for you all right after this chapter so hope you all like it! ^^ Now for the info:

**Beta****: **(She's busy again so un-beta for now)

**Disclaimer****: **See Chapter 1

_**Keys**_**:**

"Talks"

'_Thoughts'_

**Chapter 14: Tutors **

In an untimely sunrise when a teenager woke up earlier than expected he had intended to start his mission by meeting his three cousins and have a private discussion with them but things wouldn't go his way. Just as he was about to open the front door and stepped outside...

"Yami? Where are you going?"

Said teen spun round to meet his younger look-alike who stood on the stairway with a puzzled expression written on his face. He wore a dark purple short-sleeved hoodie on the outside and on the inside, a freshly new sleeveless white tee-shirt with black wordings of "Game Rulez" printed on the middle. Tight midnight-blue pants hugged his legs comfortably with a watch encircling his right wrist and a blue bracelet encircling his left; let's not forget his favourite black leather belt around his waist too. Yami on the other hand was wearing a simple sleeveless crimson shirt, a black leather belt similar to Yugi's and long but firm brown pants.

"Oh, I'm just...going out to pick some fruits nearby for breakfast." That was the first thing that came into the ruby-eyed adolescent's mind as it was his routine and therefore, an unforgettable habit he carried out every morning...

"Why do you have to do that? You can have breakfast with the rest of us."

...until these Newcastle students stepped into their humble home.

"My friends and I have already considered preparing breakfast for you and your cousins ever since we heard your tent has been destroyed by the storm so you don't have to go look for food." Yugi explained briefly with a light chuckle as he descended down the steps.

Yami couldn't help but feeling guilty when he heard those words. "Thank you so much for that, you guys have been so kind as to provide meals for us and a place to sleep in..."

"Don't mention it and it's not your fault that you lost your tent." When he reached the bottom of the ladder, he sent Yami a smile as bright as sunshine. "Besides, that's what friends do. We help each other out in tough times..."

'_...And you have helped me so much back then, I still can't thank you enough so this is the least I can do for you.'_ Were the words left unsaid in Yugi's speech.

"We appreciate that, thank you." Yami replied with a grateful expression and an equally dazzling smile on his charismatic features which made the shorter of the two ducked his head shyly but he looked up once again when he heard Yami's next words.

"However, I would still like to pick some fruits for us, you have to admit that fruits that grow in the forest are much tastier and healthier compared to the city, right?"

He must think of a way to escape from the tent without his new friend's suspicion while at the same time, able to give out an excuse as to why he will take some time outside before coming back here...was what the crimson-eyed youth thought of.

"Hmmm...You're right but I don't think it's safe to go out alone. Should I go with you or ask the others to come with us? I'll be sure to bring my bag along this time." With that Yugi turned around and was about to sprint towards his bedroom when Yami called out his name.

"You don't have to do that; I can just call my cousins out and find the fruits together since we are more familiar with this place." The taller teenager suggested with a smile. "So you can make breakfast for the both of us." After a short pause, he added, "Or we can invite everyone here and eat together."

'_That sounds like what a husband and wife normally do for some reason.'_ Yami thought inwardly whilst awkwardly scratching the back of his head. Little did he know that Yugi was having the same thought so without hesitation, he hid his blush by turning around once more and strode towards the kitchen but not before answering,

"Okay, I'll call my friends and prepare the ingredients right away!"

"Thanks."

"Oh...and Yami?"

"Hmm?" When Yami spun round, he could only see Yugi's back but what made him smile more was his next respond.

"Please be back safely."

"Will do."

With that, Yami left the tent with a grin that could make any girl faint but his expression changed drastically when he saw the people he was looking for were standing below the tree closest to Yugi's tent.

When the smallest Elemental of the four reached his destination, Yami immediately voiced out his first thought. "Sorry for making you guys wait so long."

"It's fine, we have just arrived a few minutes earlier actually but what surprises me is Bakura and Marik came out before I do." The brunet known as Seto Kaiba answered with a raised brow and a questioning glance directed to the white-haired and golden-haired striplings.

"That shrimp, Ryou said he can handle things himself so I said that I want to get some fresh air outside and he agreed to let me go."

Probably because Bakura's predatory stare and weird behaviour disturbed him greatly so he was relieved when his older 'twin' made that request.

"Mal said I will always bring trouble to him so he told me to get out. I said okay and left the tent immediately."

Definitely because of the cooking incident that made Malik all the more wanted his counterpart to get as far away from the kitchen as possible.

"Mal?" Yami asked promptly with an amused expression painted on his face but it was Seto's retort and terrifying glare that triggered Marik's fright.

"Trouble? What trouble did you caused that made him angry so much as to kick you out?"

"Erm...Seto, this may not be the right time to ask him these questions." Marik was about to express his eternal love and thankfulness to Yami until he heard the ruby-eyed teen's next respond.

"We'll deal with him later." Marik could have sworn that he saw an evil spark flashing through both Seto's and Yami's eyes, maybe it was just his imagination. "So what about you, Seto?"

After releasing a frustrated sigh, he said, "Wheeler is still asleep so I left a note saying that I'm going out to pick some fruits and that's it, but I doubt that he cares of where I go or where I have disappeared to anyway."

Nobody could understand why Joey's and Seto's relationship turned out this way so they just shrugged it off and walked towards the West side of the forest where most of the best fruits could be found.

The Elementals were having a solemn conversation whilst at the same moment, collecting fruits from tall trees and berries from bushes. As the discussion was coming close to conclusion, they had to decide hastily on their next step and thus, their next move in discovering more about the newcomers' secrets and intentions.

"Mission huh? I knew those guys can't be trusted from the start." The Water Elemental stated with a growl as his hands turned into shaking fists, his expressions showed nothing but resentment. "Nobody has stepped into the forest for years until _they_ came and they are giving us impressions that they are normal college students working on their projects but why do they have to go through all that trouble?" Everything stayed motionless as his three cousins waited for his answer and after what seemed like forever, he finally uttered the one single sentence with dread dripping in his tone.

"There is no mistake; they are here for The Elementals."

That was the one possibility that terrified them the most.

"Hey...maybe there are other reasons, it doesn't have to be that-"

"Then can you tell me WHY they chose this forest _specifically_ to study nature? WHY can't they do it in the city where libraries, colleges, museums can help them learn more about it? Or use THE internet to find the information they want? WHY do they waste so much money and effort into going outside Japan and without any adults accompanying them? Even if the woodland has gotten lesser and lesser due to the increase of human population, they are nonetheless plenty of them to choose from but WHY here? I'm sure there is more than enough information you can collect from internet and libraries, so much that you can find absolutely _anything_ in there! And it saves you _more_ time than staying in the jungle and investigates things yourself! Also, they're teenagers, they are only 18. Coming from a faraway place all by themselves is dangerous and _no_ parent allow their children to do that unless they keep it a secret from them of course."

It was a wonder that Seto could remain composed despite the fact that he had used almost all of his energy into delivering such a long speech but nevertheless, he has effectively shut Marik's mouth and the stillness took over once again with each of them contemplating on what they should do next.

"I guess we just have to strike them first before they have the chance to strike us back." Stated the only teen with pale lilac coloured eyes.

"That's obvious, idiot!" Bakura exclaimed whilst rolling his eyes. "But the question is HOW? We can't show our powers as that will reveal our identity straight away and make us go right into their trap! And we _still _don't know _who_ they actually are and _why_ they are targeting us?"

"You're right, Bakura." The star-shaped haired adolescent muttered with eyes ogling at the grass that he had stepped on. "These are all assumptions because there are no prove that our theories are right." Then he looked up and stared at his three cousins with his piercing crimson irises that showed nothing but seriousness. "But we cannot ignore the fact that they indeed have a mission in hand, as Grandpa told me last night. He has given us clues like "using powers" and "around them" so I am absolutely sure and believe his words are true. Besides, I hate to say this but what Seto said makes a lot of sense." Yami's expression grew grim at that.

"Are you sure that you are hearing things right? Maybe you get the wrong message..."

Yami's lethal glare has made Marik shut his mouth for the second time.

"Even if he didn't hear things right, I am 100% sure that my hypothesis is correct." The brown-haired youngster announced with confidence radiated around him. "Now the things we should worry about are...what exactly is their mission and if the target really is The Elementals, what will they do to us and why?"

No one knew the answer but what they were most certain about was...

Their mission was now set into motion.

**-After breakfast with the Newcastle Students-**

It seemed that none of the element-power users were expecting this to happen at all.

"Become your tutors?" Seto inquired as the 4 older teens were gazing at their counterparts with searching looks.

"Yes, we need help in solving some questions in our science project if you don't mind." Answered the shortest teen among the group, Yugi Mutou.

"And why can't you do it yourselves? Besides, we are taking different courses and hence, learning different things from you." Came the brunet's stern comeback.

"That's true but you guys are also taking Science Stream like us yet highly advanced so you will receive more information than what we have learnt in our courses." Ryou replied judiciously whilst inwardly hoping that they would accept their requests.

"Yeah and I'm certain that the things you've learnt in Bachelor Science and the things we've learnt in A-Levels aren't so far-fetched right?" Malik added with a light-hearted grin and his two arms placing at the back of his head.

"Didn't you bring any study materials like laptops and books with you?" This time it was Yami's turn to ask.

"We did bring along some E-Books but there are some things we don't understand so we would appreciate if you can help us explain." Joey said with his eyes narrowing more when Kaiba stared back with equal amount of irritation. "Plus, if you don't help us, we can't finish our project in time!"

"Joey!" Ryou yelled before he let out a regretful sigh and said, "We are actually planning to tell you right after lunch but thanks to him..." He rolled his chocolate-brown eyes at the playboy who gave him a sheepish grin in return. "We have to say it now, we are going back home on Friday morning instead of Sunday afternoon."

Then it was back to Yugi to take over the clarification. "That means we have two more days before we leave this place so this is why we have to complete our project before that day comes as we can't do that once we reach our homes because we have other plans later on, therefore please become our tutors for a day?"

That was how The Elementals found themselves becoming the Newcastle student's tutors but not before witnessing the sight of said four students begging like lost puppies with their very own puppy eyes of doom. Yugi and his friends had decided to work on their group project separately instead of discussing in groups as it would speed things up and helped them concentrate more so they had each been given a tutor to teach individually. As to what kind of tutors The Elementals were? Let's find out.

**-In Yugi's room-**

"Using this formula given in this particular experiment, we can assume that both plant cell A and plant cell B are sharing the same solution potential with the water potential of the plant cell C being an estimation of -1120 kPA." The taller of the two, Yami elucidated intelligently whilst writing some calculations and notes onto the book with Yugi, the shorter 'twin' sitting on his left listening to every word he said.

"I see, so that's how it goes."

"Yeah, and for the second question, there is a rapid increase of hydrogen peroxide because the numbers of substrate and enzyme molecules are large; hence they can easily bind to the active site of the enzymes but the gradient become less steep due to the enzymes being a limiting factor."

"Oh, that's why the graph shows a curve-shaped instead of a straight line."

"That's right."

"Thank you so much, Yami. I couldn't have done it without your help." Yugi said with a gratifying smile plastered on his cherubic face.

"It's no trouble at all." The Fire Elemental replied with his captivating grin which yet again made Yugi's smile widen. "Now as for question 3..."

"Uh...Yami." The amethyst-eyed youth waited for his 'tutor' to look up before he continued. "I haven't looked into that question yet."

"It's alright, we can solve it together or I can tell you the shortcut straight away. So this is how it goes..."

'_Yami should have let me try and work out the problem first but he's giving me answers right away.'_ Mused the student with a sweatdrop on his forehead._ 'Now I feel like a spoiled child receiving candies from a doting mother, I wonder how the others are doing right now.'_

**-In Joey's room-**

"I don't know..."

"You DON'T _KNOW_?" If looks could kill, Joey would have been dead by now.

"B-but, I really don't-"

"Don't you give me that pathetic excuse!" The world's strictest, fiercest tutor in the whole world (in Joey's opinion) were now giving him his most terrorizing glare that would make a formidable lion squirmed in fear as he pointed a large picture presented in front of the student using a pointy, sharp stick that came from nowhere. "Think using that stupid, worthless brain of yours!"

"Hey, I'm not stupid and worthless!"

"Then prove it to me by answering this question!"

Joey hummed with his eyes closed as he tried to recall the lessons he have learnt during class and before Kaiba went on a rampage once again, he immediately yelled his answer with his index finger aimed at the picture.

"That's Xylem!"

After a full minute of unbearable pause, a loud sigh resounded throughout the room.

"That's correct."

"Yes!" Joey whooped in joy as he stood up immediately and did his victory dance. "I knew I can get it right! I just need some time to think." He then gave Kaiba a self-satisfied look.

"Anyone could have answered that question easily; even an elementary kid knows that!" The Water Elemental retorted as he released yet another aggravated sigh.

Feeling a twitch of anger forming on his head, Joey was about to snap back at him when the brunet pointed another picture and asked, "What about this?"

"I don't know..."

A facepalm and a lone thought of Joey being the worst college student in history was the result of hearing that comment.

**-In Ryou's room-**

"How about question 5(a)? Suggest the reason why the rate of water movement in an intact shoot is less than that measured in the potometer?"

"Do it yourself."

Every time Ryou asked a question, his counterpart would give him the same reply as Bakura felt that it was too troublesome explaining things to him.

After letting go an exasperating pout towards Bakura, all he said was, "You're supposed to be my tutor so act like one and help me decipher this question."

"For your information, I'm _forced_ to be one. Also, this subject is boring."

'_Why am I stuck with this person again?'_ Ryou mused but he already knew the answer at the back of his mind_. 'Oh right, he's my roommate but how can I make him teach me willingly?'_

After mulling over on what he should do to convince Bakura to teach him, an imaginary light bulb abruptly materialized on top of his head.

"Hey Bakura." Waiting for the taller teen to look at him, he then said, "I'll cook or bake anything you want for a whole day if you can help me finish this project."

All the Air Elemental did was smirking back at him and answered complacently, "If that will convince me to teach you then you're sorely mistaken."

"Watching any movies you want in the Theatre Room?"

"Not enough."

"Any books or comics you would like to read?"

"I'm not a bookworm like you so no."

"Play any types of games you want for the whole afternoon?"

"Tempting but still, the answer is no."

Okay, now he was out of options...was what Ryou thought so he used his last resort.

"Fine, I'll ask Kaiba or Yami to help me if you don't, I bet they can teach me much better than you can."

That somehow did the trick as the older stripling suddenly stood up and walked over to Ryou's table.

"Who says I can't teach you? I only said that because it's too tiresome to do the explaining. Give me the book."

'_It looks like he values his pride much more than I thought.'_ Ryou cogitated whilst smiling secretly. _'Surprisingly he can be a good tutor when he wants to be.'_

**-In Malik's Room-**

"I don't know..."

"What? You DON'T _KNOW_?" This occurrence has happened not too long ago, didn't it?

"How can you tell me that you don't know when you have taken a course much _more_ advanced than mine and therefore, should be _more_ knowledgeable than me?" Shouted the younger of the two, Malik Ishtar.

"This subject is so dull to me so I don't bother learning this part of the lesson seriously." Marik admitted while at the same time, scratching the back of his head. He could tell that his shorter companion was about to blow up any time soon. "Can I go out now?"

Seeing Malik's current expression made him closed his mouth for the third time of the day. "You will_ never_ leave this room until my project is done, _you hear me_?"

"Aye." Was all the Earth Elemental could utter from his quavering mouth.

"Now tell me what I should do for this problem." Seeing all those numbers and formulas made Marik's eyes swirling in confusion. He was never good in mathematics when it came to Biology but excellent when it came to Chemistry, strange wasn't it?

"I don't know about the calculations part." Marik answered with truthfulness in his voice. "But I can answer the rest of the questions I think."

"Really?"

This was due to the fact that the professor has made sure to drill all of the information on the subject of plants into Marik's poor brain by having a hellish teaching every day after school ever since he received his elemental power. Thus the reason why he thought this subject was boring was because he already knew all of those facts.

'_This guy is so strange.'_ Malik ruminated with mystification plastered on his features as he watched Marik's weird handwriting gliding along the page. _'But at least he is not completely useless.'_

**-After lunch-**

The day was spent on tutoring Yugi and his friends but also looking for clues to crack their true identities. However, their plans did not work so far.

'_It's like they have intended to hide everything from the start.'_ The Fire Elemental thought with apprehension and disturbance mixed in his crimson eyes, he was roaming around the kitchen for snacks and taking his time checking out the place. _'If it 's me, I would keep something secretive by my side like the necklace I'm wearing.'_ Then all of a sudden, an idea popped into his head. _'Maybe...'_

When Yami was about to move out of the kitchen, footsteps were drawing closer to his location along with an angelic, clear voice.

"Yami? What are you doing in the kitchen?" His purple-eyed friend asked inquisitively when he pushed the kitchen's double doors opened.

"Just looking for some snacks." Was a simple response uttered by none other than his look-alike. "I hope you don't mind."

"Of course I don't, please treat yourself at home." Yugi replied back with his regularly joyful smile but that ended as quickly as a flash when he hastily grabbed Yami's right shoulder and pulled him close.

"Don't look back." The purple-eyed youngster whispered softly in his left ear as he reached for his laser pen in his pocket and without hesitation, shot the big, black spider with fatal accuracy on the wall behind Yami's back. Poisonous purplish smoke oozed out from the spider's body so Yugi swiftly took Yami's right hand and dragged him away from danger though his eyes never leave the creature's dead body.

As soon as Yugi was done switching on the air filter to remove the odour away, he turned back to Yami and said, "Phew...that was so close. The spider was about to attack you behind your back you know...Yami?"

The dumbfounded look was all he could see from his buddy's face. In Yami's mind, only Yugi's whispering words, his hot breath near his sensitive ear and his warm, delicate hand gripping his own filled his brain. However, he snapped out from his thoughts when he realized something has happened that should not been seen by his 'twin'.

The temperatures on his lower arms were starting to increase rapidly in an abnormal way.

Luckily Yugi has released his grip on Yami's hand though he was still standing in front of the taller teenager while showing him his naive, enquiring expression. "Are you listening to me, Yami?"

He felt the skin on his fingertips was turning into fire, so what could Yami do in this situation?

"Oh no, there's another dangerous bug on top of you."

The older star-shaped haired youth then wrapped his arms securely around Yugi with his head on Yami's left shoulder.

"Yami?"

"Stay still, Yugi and don't look back. It's the same spider as before."

"Ah, okay." Yugi answered back with a blush creeping onto his cheeks.

After spending a second pretending to search for items in his pocket, Yami had to figure out a plan to fool Yugi while at the same time desperately controlling his powers with all of his might.

'_Darn it, the fire is still burning on my hands and now it's spreading up till my elbows. Why can't I control my powers well ever since that incident happened?'_

"Is it me or did the room suddenly feels so warm right now?"

"Maybe it's just your imagination, Yugi."

"But I feel that the heat is getting stronger behind my back, what's going on?"

"Nothing serious really, that spider also gives off strong heat it seems."

Yugi clearly did not know much about spiders as he disliked these types of insects ever since he was a little child so he had not done much research about them. He shrugged and listened to Yami's words. "Okay, please hurry and get rid of it."

"Sure." But what could be done when the fire on his arms would not distinguish at all? That's when Yami looked up and saw the one thing that could help him work out his dilemma. He pointed his right index finger that was covered with nothing but fire at the device built on top of the ceiling and shot it down like a gun.

Needless to say, water sprayed all over the ground floor.

"What's happening?" Yugi was about to push Yami away but the older teenager gripped him tightly, not letting him turned around.

"Don't move Yugi. The spider is still there and the poisonous gas will get to your eyes."

Yami's plan was fortunately successful as the water droplets dribbled onto his skin and eventually distinguished the fire on his arms in an instant so his explanation to why this happened?

"That spider released another type of gas that triggers the fire alarm and escaped. I'm sorry that I didn't kill it on the spot."

"It's fine, Yami and thanks a lot for protecting me. We should go change our clothes seeing as we're both wet."

With a light chuckle coming from the two youngsters, Yami's secret was in the end, safe and sound but he was not the only one who had the same problem.

**-In Malik's Room-**

"What are you doing in the bathroom for so long? I need to use it!"

"I don't feel so good so please use another bathroom."

Their tutoring has changed into massaging treatments as Malik was feeling tired so Marik volunteered to massage his stiff shoulders but things went downhill when Malik unconsciously moaned with pleasure which at the result, had Marik filled with indecent thoughts in his mind and without warning, his body felt tingles all over before he realized the true meaning behind these reactions.

"Ah! I'm going to the bathroom; continue with your work while I'm out."

That occurred 15 minutes ago and Marik has yet to come out from said bathroom.

"You are taking way too long in there and this is the only bathroom that works well, the other one downstairs has problems with the pipes."

'_Why did I get into such a difficult situation?'_ The Earth Elemental cogitated with sweat soaking his forehead as he frantically searched for a way to cut these veins that kept growing and crawling all over his arms and legs because sooner or later, he would turn into a green cocoon and that would not bode him well.

"I'm going to break this door down if you don't come out on the count of 3!"

"No! Wait a minute!"

"1!"

"I said wait a minute!"

"2!"

"Come on please wait-"

"3!"

"UFO in bright daylight!"

Silence...

'_Oh, I'm doomed for sure. Sorry, Yami. Sorry, Bakura and so sorry, Seto. Please forgive me and spare my life. Also, please visit me if I'm captured to jail or whatever.'_ Just as Marik was prepared to face his fate...

"What? WHERE?!"

The sound of footsteps thumping away from the bathroom slowly became non-existent and then stillness took place once more.

'_Thank GOD I'm safe! Thank you for sparing my life! I will not eat any meat for one whole day!'_

When Malik came back, you know what happens next...but pain in his eardrums and bruises on his entire body were a small price to pay if he was able to keep his secret at last.

That was how the day went with the night ended with another delicious dinner, but then...

**-In Yugi's room-**

"Do you know how much trouble you give us when you suddenly told us that we have to go back on Friday morning instead of Sunday afternoon?"

That was Joey's yell as they watched a huge hologram that projected from Yugi's watch; it was a young woman the same age as the A-Level students.

"It's not my fault that you guys didn't finish your projects earlier." That was the one sentence no one could disagree with. "I think this is for the best because we have other preparations to carry out during Saturday and Sunday so make sure to do your task right."

All four nods were the response she got.

"Good. Complete your mission, failure is absolutely not an option." The grave tone in her voice left no room for argument.

"And don't be late."

The screen switched off just like that.

"How are we supposed to capture "The Elementals" when we did not get _any_ information about them including the pictures of how they look like?"

"Pipe down, Joey. Unfortunately, all of the important data have been destroyed by the government so we are totally clueless except knowing their element powers."

"Ryou's right but we all know that they are four teenagers like us that live in the woods for years and all we can find are Yami and his cousins. Isn't it proof that they're the ones we're looking for?"

"That's not necessary true, Malik."

All eyes turned to the star-shaped haired youngster.

"For all we know, they _might_ be hiding in the forest since day one. Yami and the others _might_ happen to be just like us, students doing their homework research. We can't afford to make any mistakes here." Yugi paused for a moment before he continued, "However if they really are who we're looking for, we will make them divulge their true self by showing us the powers they have been keeping from us."

As the purple-eyed teen and his classmates conversed among each other on what they should accomplish tomorrow, a pair of eyes observed them intently outside the window with trees acting as camouflage but as soon as Yugi spun his head round, the eyes was out of sight.

**To Be Continued...**

Another chapter done! *wipes sweat* I have trouble thinking of some ideas for this particular chapter so I hope you all like it! Tell me if there's anything wrong or have any suggestions to spice things up a little, haha! So, about the 'present' I've mentioned earlier it's...**A Short Omake** (Omake means "Extra Story") that happened in this chapter too! So without further ado, here comes the very first short story of _"The Elementals"_, enjoy!

* * *

**Omake #1: Fish**

Bakura was not afraid of anything, anything at all...

"Dinner is ready!"

Ryou's cheerful voice was the usual alarm that informed them all that foods were served and as hungry and growing teenagers, they went into the dining table like starving wolves ready to devour anything that came in their sight with imaginary drools drenched from their mouths. One by one, the food was set onto the table with glitters and sparkles surrounding each of the comestibles like enchanted spells placed onto them. However, one particular food was dampening a certain teen's mood.

"Oh! We have fish for dinner!" Howled the hungriest of them all by the name of Joey Wheeler. "We haven't had fishes for quite some time!"

"Well, I thought I didn't bring it but it was in my cooling box all along." Ryou said with a chuckle. "Sorry about that."

"It's okay, Ryou. Any other foods you cook are just as good after all." Malik said with eagerness twinkling in his eyes. "And besides, we prefer meat than fish!"

"Hey, fish is good for you so you should eat more too!" There goes another lecture from the food expert, Ryou Bakura.

"Err...guys; we should eat now before it gets cold." Yugi fortunately interfered Ryou's long speech about the goodness of the fishes and its proteins and so everyone sat on his respective seats and started digging until...

"Bakura? Why don't you eat the fish?"

Ignored...

"Is it not good for your appetite?"

Ignored...

"Fish is essential for our health and growth so you should have some."

Ignored...

"I'll grab some for you."

Ignored...and faintly wide eyes.

Soon, everybody was done with his dinner, all except one...

"Bakura, why don't you eat the fish I gave you?"

'_Can you stop pestering me with that annoying question?'_ Bakura thought furiously but the words that came out from his mouth was, "I can choose to eat whichever food I want."

"But..."

"Just let him be, Ryou. He never likes fish ever since he was young." Yami said tranquilly with his assuring smile.

"Why is that?"

"Stop asking so many questions already." Bakura replied back spitefully, his dark brown eyes presenting nothing but impatience, fury and slight nervousness?

"You can't be picky in food especially when it comes to fish." Ryou countered back with resolve shimmered in his chocolate irises. "Each and every one of us needs to have fish as our daily meal."

"Who says such a stupid thing?"

"Food experts, nutritionists, scientists, teachers, mothers...practically everyone who knows a well balanced diet."

As the bickering went on between the white-haired duo, Ryou's schoolmates were speculating the same thing...

"Why did Bakura hate fish so much?"

All stares on Joey Wheeler.

"What? What did I say?"

"Why can't you shut your mouth for once?" Kaiba muttered in a soft, petulant tone but somehow, Joey could hear his words as clear as day.

"Hey! I'm just asking a simple question, Kaiba! Why do you have to go against me on every little thing I do?"

"It's not that but-"

"Yeah, why do you hate fish so much, Bakura?"

Now the stares switched back to the said teen but the person has already stood up and was beginning to saunter out of the dining room. "I have no time for this so stop asking me pointless questions!"

"Because he had a long fish bone stuck in his throat when he was 5 once that ended up bringing him to the hospital."

Four vaguely wide eyes, three remained quiet and one enraged look were the outcome of hearing that comment.

"Well...I guess that's not so bad-"

"Unfortunately the bone's location is too deep and if the throat specialist is not careful enough, it will cause further damage that may put him into surgical procedure."

If that wasn't enough to make them tremble in fright, Seto's next words would.

"And apparently, the anaesthesia that helps putting you to sleep did not work well on him so he was half-awake and saw everything throughout the whole process. Even though the procedure was short as he only remove the bone from his throat, that scared him ever since."

It was no surprise as Bakura was a child back then but no one would enjoy staying awake and seeing someone entering some strange devices into your own throat. Plus it was excruciating and uncomfortable to have a sharp bone poking in your throat and then feeling more pain as the bone was slowly dragging upwards by the specialist. Let's just say he was unlucky to meet an inexperienced specialist.

Just like that, the dinner came to a conclusion but Ryou was not about to give up so he made something special for his friend.

**-In Ryou's Room-**

"What is this?"

On the table in front of The Air Elemental were four golden, crispy looking nuggets with each the size of a croquette on a white, clean plate.

"Just some snacks for you, try it. It's my first time making it."

A raised eyebrow and a stare later, Bakura grabbed one and took a bite. Needless to say, he absolutely loved it.

"It's good, what's in it? I've never tasted something like this before."

"Fish meat."

Those two words made Bakura wanted to choke and hurl the item in his hand so badly.

"What-"

"It has no bones at all so don't you worry a thing!"

"Why-"

"Because fish is important for your health and I want you to try it but I understand your reasons so I just have to remove all of the fish bones, every single one of them."

"Stop being so nosy and mind your own business!"

"People are being nosy because they care!"

Somehow this reminded Bakura of something his dear mother had once said to him.

'_I'm telling you this because I care!'_

"Yeah, people have told me countless times that I'm being meddlesome and noisy like a mother does, even Yugi and the others tells me that all the time but they don't mind since they know that I care about them and as your friend, I care about you too."

That was something Bakura could not oppose for once.

"I know I should be minding my own business but it's just so sad to see someone unable to eat something good because of that certain phobia." Before Bakura could get angry again, he added, "And besides, isn't it good to finally eat something you have wanted to try for so long?"

To be honest, he had wanted to taste the flavour of the fish meat ever since he could remember...was the only thought that appeared in the older youth's mind.

A silent nod and a bite on the fish nugget was all he could give to the smiling Ryou.

**Omake #1: Fish Ended**.

There goes the first omake of this story! Do you enjoy this special Tendershipping moment? I hope you do! I think I will have to work on Bronzeshipping and Puppyshipping soon...XD I haven't show you Bakura's and Marik's reactions when they 'fell in love' yet so the one when Marik was in the bathroom is not 'official', maybe you can say that it's 'lust' instead of 'real love'(but it's real close), just want to show you guys that The Elemental's powers are not well-controlled ever since the 'incident' happened so you will see their powers getting wild without their intentions once in a while. Tell me what you think of the chapter and the omake and I'll see you guys in the next chapter! Please continue to support me and as usual as it's always been, _**Favourites**_ and _**Alerts**_ are loved, _**Reviews**_ are welcomed!

P.S: Vote on the poll in my profile too! The results are still very close!


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